Understanding
by WORLDxDOMINATION
Summary: After she and her brother moved in with their family in LaPush following the death of their parents, Allie thought her life couldn't get much worse or better. However, as time goes on, Allie starts to realize that life can always get better and worse when she ends up pregnant with a monster's child and loved by two men she can't choose between.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I stood there, just looking at the two caskets before me. I was the next one that was supposed to walk up to them, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I couldn't bring myself to go over and look into the eyes of them. The eyes of my dead parents. A tear found its way down my cheek at the thought. An arm draped itself over my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I didn't care who it was, as long as they didn't let go of me and let me cry into them. I finally stopped the tears from falling long enough to see who it was holding me. It didn't surprise me to see my brother Aaron was the one holding onto me. I felt my eyes start watering up again and buried my head into his chest.

"It's alright," he whispered into my ear. "You're going to be just fine. Do you hear me Allie?" I nodded slightly into his chest, believing his words. Aaron had never lied to me before, so I had no reason to think he would now. I turned back around and looked at the golden caskets sprinkled with water from the rain lightly falling down. My parents promised to be there for me no matter what. They lied. They left me and it wasn't even their fault. It was a stupid drunk driver's fault. A thought hit me.

I looked up at Aaron and whispered, "I promise I will never drink again." Aaron put on a sad smile as he looked down at me.

"I promise I won't ever either." I smiled back up at Aaron, equally sad. I looked at my parents again for a long moment before slowly getting out of Aaron's arms and walking over to them. I looked down at my mom and dad's pale faces. They seamed like they were just asleep, but I knew they were more than asleep. I rubbed the back of my hand along my mother's cold cheek.

Another tear found its way down my cheek and onto my mother's cheek, making it look like she was crying too, as I whispered to her, "I'll never forget you. I promise you I will remember you no matter what." I looked over at my father who was lying next to her and finished softly, "I'll never forget either of you." I let my hand drop to my side as Aaron pulled me away from them. I didn't bother to try and stop the tears as we walked away.

I looked up at him and asked quietly, "Can you take me home? I can't be here anymore." Aaron nodded and looked back at our parent's caskets as they were lifted to be laid into the ground one last time before taking me out to his truck to go home.

The drive home was silent. I didn't even bother to turn on the music when Aaron said I could. I just lost two of the most important people in my life, and I didn't know how to deal with it. I didn't know how to go on knowing I'd never have my parents there to help me through the rest of my teenage years. I suddenly wished I had spent more time with them. I wish I would have said yes when they asked to hang out somewhere. I wish I could do it over. I looked out the window and bit my lip to try and stop the tears from falling. I couldn't cry here. Not with Aaron trying to drive home. It would just distract him, and if we got into a wreck and I lost him, I know I would never survive.

Aaron looked over to me concerned and asked softly, "Do you need me to stop?" I shook my head.

"No," I replied softly. "I just want to get home." Aaron nodded and sped up slightly. As soon as he pulled into the drive way, I was out of the truck and to the door in an instant. Aaron slowly followed behind me and unlocked the door to our house. It was dark; dark and empty. I'd never felt so alone in my own home before, but there was a first for everything. I waked into my room and shut the door behind me. It was just as dark as the rest of the house, but at least here I could be alone. At least here, I could die without any interference.

I fell face first onto my bed, not bothering to change out of my black dress I had worn for the funeral service. I heard someone knock on my door, but I didn't care to answer it. I just wanted to be alone right now. I grabbed one of my many pillows and held it against my face, muffling my cries. Nothing else at that minute mattered. The only thing that mattered was not here and never would be again.

Tears escaped my eyes for hours before I finally got tired enough to try and sleep. I looked to my left out of my balcony windows. The stars were shinning so brightly on this hurtful day. I don't know how they could do so without bursting. My eyes gradually began to close, ending the day I wished I'd never have had to live in the first place. Ending the day my heart was torn from my body. Ending the last day I would show any kind of emotion for a long while.

The next month went by in a blur. I don't remember doing anything but sleeping and crying for the entire first week. I wouldn't eat or drink anything besides water when I started feeling too weak, and that worried Aaron quite a bit. He eventually had to go the doctor who prescribed a special pill for me that would give me the nutrition's my body wasn't getting from food.

At first, I wouldn't take the pill. I didn't want to, but I cared too much for my brother not to. I knew if I didn't at least take the pill, he would just die from worry. I took one pill every morning after the sixth day after the funeral. I lost almost twenty pounds that first week, and I kept losing more every day after that. I didn't go outside or talk to anyone.

Whenever Aaron would try and talk to me, I would just sit there and not even look at him. I knew it hurt him to see me like this, but I was hurting so much inside, I didn't have any other way to deal with it. Everyone I ever knew tried to get me to talk to them. His friend Daniel suggested calling in a therapist to try and talk to me, but Aaron said no. He said he didn't think that would help me at all, and I was thankful for that. I could barely stand people I knew trying to get me to feel better, let alone someone I don't know at all. Even his girlfriend Shannon, who I really loved, tried talking to me, but I didn't respond to anything.

Most days, I would just sit in my small couch next to my balcony and look out at the sky. Whether it was morning or night, the sky was the only thing that offered me any type of comfort. It was like the sky was talking to me at times. Whenever I was very sad, the sky would be a bright blue as though to try and cheer me up, and whenever I just talked through everything I was feeling, the sky was a grey color. It was the only thing that knew what I was going through. The only thing I would open up to.

After the first month went by and I still hadn't spoken to any person, Aaron decided to try and talk to me again by himself. He found me in my couch looking out at the rain. Rainy days were the worst kind because they made me more sad than normal. Aaron walked over and sat down next to me on the couch. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. I felt so safe in his arms even if I didn't tell him that. He ran his hand through my hair humming softly in my ear.

He paused and whispered, "Please talk to me Allie. I need to hear your voice. I need to know you're going to be alright." I felt terrible that I was hurting him so bad, but I just wasn't ready to talk to anyone yet. I looked up at his sad face with a blank expression upon my own. His normally bright blue eyes were grey and filled with worry. I got out of his arms and walked out of the room. He followed me as I went into the kitchen and pulled out a banana. He watched me carefully as I ate it as though he thought I might choke on it any minute and leave him all alone. I finished the banana and looked to Aaron with tear filled eyes.

"They're gone," I whispered. "I'm all alone." Aaron rushed over and pulled me into a loving embrace.

"I know," he replied softly. "But you aren't alone. I'm here with you." I looked up to Aaron's face, the tears falling down my cheeks.

"I don't think I can stay here," I said even softer. "It's hurting so much to be around everything that reminds me of them." Aaron kept a blank expression.

He replied, "I know it does. That's why I called our aunt, Sue. She heard what happened, but she wasn't able to come down for the funeral. I first heard from her a few days before the funeral, and she said we were welcome to stay with her and her family if we ever wanted to. I called her back yesterday morning and asked if we could move up with her. She said yes. I knew you were hurting so bad, and I think if we can just get away from here, maybe you'll start healing a little bit." I nodded. Aaron knew me so well. He knew I'd want to get away from here before I even told him. I guess that's why he's the older brother. I could never do what he's doing.

I didn't eat anything besides that banana the rest of the day, but Aaron was content with just that. Later that afternoon he helped me pack up all of my things and put them into his truck. Aaron and I slept on the couch in the living room that night, him holding onto me protectively as I slept. I was still very depressed about everything, but I thought that maybe if I could get away, start new somewhere else, I might actually be able to get back to normal one day.

The next morning, Aaron put me into his truck and checked back through the house to make sure we didn't forget anything. I was sitting there in my pajamas, not even bothering to change into anything else this past month. Aaron returned and drove down the road. I looked out my window and watched as the house I had grown up in for my entire life got smaller and smaller with each passing second. I didn't notice I was crying till Aaron rubbed my cheek.

"Hey," he whispered. "Don't cry. This will be a new start for us. I promise things will get better." I nodded and wiped my eyes dry. We didn't talk much on the journey to my aunt's house. I didn't even know where exactly she lived. I turned to Aaron.

I quietly asked, "Where does Aunt Sue live?" Aaron didn't take his eyes off the road.

"She lives in La Push up in Washington. It's the reservation most of dad's side of the family grew up on. It's also where he met mom," he replied softly, being cautious as to my reaction when he mentioned mom. I had always been closest to my mother. I remained unfazed, but my curiosity flared slightly. I never really had much of a chance to get to know about our parent's history, and anything I could find out was interesting for me.

"Do you know anything about mom's childhood? About how she met dad?" I asked eagerly. Aaron smiled softly and nodded.

He replied, "Yeah, I know some. I used to ask her and dad a lot about when they were our age. Would you like to hear the story?" I nodded rapidly. I was always so busy with things I never had a chance to ask about it.

Aaron chuckled and continued, "Well, mom and her little sister Sue were visiting some family up in La Push. When they got there, that's were mom first met dad. Well, she actually met him when she was going to the store to pick up some groceries, but that's beside the point. As soon as dad laid eyes on her, he knew he was in love. Mom didn't think that way. She hated him with a very strong passion. I asked her once why, and she said it was because dad was super annoying when he was younger. More so than he was after they were married.

"Eventually, mom gave in to dad's constant pleading and went on a date with him just to prove they weren't a good match. Instead of proving she didn't like him once and for all, mom enjoyed herself. This is where their relationship formed. Dad was Quileute, so all his family lived on the Indian reservation. At first, mom and dad moved in together and lived there, but dad got a job as a research scientist.

"He got an assignment to move to Galveston, Texas. Mom decided to go with him. Since she was 18 years old, her parents didn't mind her moving away as long as she kept in touch. When they got to Texas, they got married. Five months later I was born. A few years later, you're born, and you basically know the story from then on." I smiled slightly when Aaron was done. I didn't have my parents any more, but at least now I felt somewhat closer to them.

The drive to La Push was long and boring. We stopped twice for gas, three times for bathroom breaks, and once for a meal after the first day of driving. It took two and a half days to get there, and I had slept most of the way. Aaron didn't mind that he had to drive the entire way. He probably felt safer driving the whole way in case I started crying behind the wheel after seeing something on the road like I did a few times.

Aaron woke me up when we reached the sign that said, "Welcome to La Push" on it. If we had been here for any other reason, I probably would have screamed for joy of not having to drive anymore, but instead, I just stayed silent.

I was here because I had no where else to go. I was here because my parent's died. I was here because I couldn't stand to live in my memories anymore.

I watched the trees out my window as we passed by. Everything was so different in La Push than it was in Galveston. There where trees almost everywhere, and it was always raining. Aaron had told me about La Push when we were driving up here, but I didn't think he was serious about it always raining until I saw how wet everything was.

We passed a couple houses while driving down the main road, and eventually we came to a fairly big house on our left that had two cars in front of it and a motor cycle in the open garage. I looked the house up and down. It had two stories and was white. It wasn't too terribly bad, and I'm sure it'll fit me, Aaron, Aunt Sue, Uncle Harry, and their children nicely. Aaron pulled into the drive and turned off the truck. For a while, we just sat there. He turned to me.

"We're here," he whispered. "Are you ready?" I sat still for a moment before nodding and smiling at him as best I could.

I replied, "Yeah. I'm ready. Like you said, this is a new start for us. It'll be good." Aaron smiled back at me and got out of the truck. I took a deep breath before doing the same. We decided to go ahead and carry our bags in since we didn't have that many instead of knocking then coming back. I was thankful for this, mainly because I wasn't ready to have anyone give me a look of pity yet. Aaron carried his three bags and my backpack while I got my other two bags. We left most of our things back home. All we brought was clothes, a few special possessions, pictures, and essentials we'd need like deodorant, toothbrush, ect.

Since I didn't have as many bags to carry, I put my two bags in one hand and knocked on the door quickly. I didn't even have to wait a minute before a woman answered the door who I assumed was Aunt Sue. I know that Aaron and I used to come up and visit with mom and dad, but it had been almost ten years since the last time we came up, and I didn't remember much about Aunt Sue or Uncle Henry or any of our family up here.

Although Aaron said she was our mother's sister, she looked nothing like her. They had the same dark hair, but hers was a lot longer and straighter than mother's was. Her eyes were a blue green mix instead of mom's sea green eyes, but the one thing that was practically exactly the same was their height. They both were only about one inch taller than I was. Aunt Sue beamed at us and embraced me in a hug.

"Oh Allie, Aaron, my, you two have grown so much!" she exclaimed. I smiled weakly and hugged her back as best I could.

"It's good to see you again too Aunt Sue," I replied softly. She let me go and hugged Aaron who tried to hug her back but failed. She ushered us inside and had us put our bags down on the floor next to the couch. I waited until Aaron sat down on the couch before positioning myself between him and the couch arm. I was uncomfortable and didn't want anyone to cause me to be more so by sitting next to me. Aunt Sue sat in a chair across from us, smiling.

"So," she started. "How was the trip?" My mind went back to the times I cried. I closed my eyes tight and stayed silent. Aaron picked up on this and replied.

"Okay," he said softly. "It was a little long." Aunt Sue nodded.

"I suppose it would be a long drive from Texas all the way here in Washington. Seth is upstairs, and Leah is out. Do you two remember them? Aaron might. Leah and you are the same age, and Seth is about the same age as Allie. Oh I'm just so glad you are here! I can't wait for you to see your uncle and cousins. Do either of you remember them?" Aaron smiled softly.

He replied, "Yes, I remember them. Is Leah still taller Seth?" I heard someone yell hey from the kitchen.

"I don't think I'm as short as I used to be," a boy with scraggy blonde hair muttered. I smiled up at him. Seth had always been my favorite cousin next to Leah. He always knew how to help me out of trouble and for that I was eternally grateful.

"Yeah ya are," Aaron retorted standing up. Aaron was huge compared to Seth. For some strange reason, about six years ago Aaron got a major growth spurt. He'd always appeared to be about twenty-one ever since then. Right before it happened, he had gotten sick for about two weeks during which time I wasn't aloud to see him. He grew at least six inches in a couple weeks and was a lot stronger. He also had this weird fever that he seamed to always have no matter what. The first couple weeks after he got better and I was aloud to see him again, I was freaked out by his temperature, but eventually I got used to it. Apparently, the growth and muscles didn't come down from our mom's side of the family.

Seth glared up at Aaron and challenged, "You wanna go at it Aaron? I bet I could beat you now in anything." Aaron raised an eyebrow and chuckled as though he had an inside joke he thought of. He poked Seth's chest.

"You wanna put your money where your mouth is squirt?" Seth smirked back at Aaron. Aunt Sue cleared her throat.

"Boys," she instructed. "Can't you wait until everyone is at least unpacked? You just got here." Aaron and Seth continued to smirk at each other until I pulled on Aaron's arm. He looked down to me with concerned eyes. He sat down.

"What's wrong?" he whispered. I closed my eyes and tried to keep tears from forming.

I whispered back, "Please wait a couple days before leaving me alone to do guy stuff. I don't think I can handle being alone just yet." Aaron nodded understandingly and put a hand on my knee to try and calm me down.

"Don't worry," he whispered even softer than before. "I'll never leave you alone." I nodded, believing everything he said. After Aaron said that, an awkward silence filled the air for what felt like forever. Aunt Sue stood up and smiled at the two of us.

"Well," she said cheerily. "Let me show you to your rooms. Leah's not here yet, but you'll get to see her later." We nodded and grabbed our bags. Seth offered to help Aaron with his four bags and took two of them. Aaron wanted to refuse, but he didn't want to upset me with anything. He reluctantly gave Seth two of the bags.

Aaron and my room's were right next to each other. Aaron's was white and had a blue bed next to the wall along with a desk and dresser. My room was a light shade of lavender and had a deep purple bed against the wall along with a desk, dresser, and small chair for reading. Aunt Sue left us alone to unpack our things saying she'd be downstairs when we were done. I was able to unpack my things fairly quickly and without any tears until coming to my back pack. I pulled out my laptop fine, my journal and sketchbook fine, and my art supplies fine. I started crying when I got to the pictures. Every time I pulled out another picture, the tears would fall down harder. I tried my best not to make any noises so that Aaron wouldn't hear me. I didn't want to distract him from his unpacking. I knew he had enough to deal with and didn't need a depressed little sister to deal with as well.

I had to stop completely to put my face into a pillow to stop me from crying out when I saw a picture of me, Aaron, and our parents at the lake only a week before they died. We were all so happy in the picture. We were laughing and building a sand castle on top of me. I buried my head into the pillow and cried for what felt like hours. Long arms wrapped themselves around me, but I couldn't stop crying long enough to see who it was. I turned my body and cried into the person's chest, holding onto them for dear life. It felt like if I let go, I would slip away from reality. I would actually die right then and there.

After a while, I managed to slow down the crying and look up at the person holding me. I was surprised to see Seth was the one holding onto me. I pulled away from him slightly and wiped my eyes. I had known him when I was little, but I hadn't seen him in years and here I was crying into his chest like I'd grown up with him. I didn't care. I felt so cold inside, and he was a source of warmth. I didn't know anyone who was this caring about me besides Aaron, but it made me feel better. I felt like I belonged somewhere.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly. I nodded slightly.

"Yeah," I whispered so soft I didn't know if he could hear me. "Thank you." Seth smiled softly and gave me a hug.

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "You're my baby cousin. I'm supposed to protect you." I chuckled.

"Baby cousin? I'm fifteen. I'm not a baby. Besides, you're only a month older than me." Seth chuckled.

He answered, "You're my baby cousin to me. Just face the fact, it's like you have another brother now that you live here with me." I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

"Oh no, not another brother," I replied, pretending to be scared. "I can barely deal with one!" I heard chuckling from my door. I turned and saw Aaron standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Well, I guess you'll never escape having an older brother Allie," Aaron said mockingly. I glared at him playfully and got up along with Seth. I wiped my eyes a few times, making sure I had no tears left in them, and the three of us walked downstairs. Aunt Sue smiled when she saw us. She was sitting in the same chair she had been, but this time there was a man in the chair next to her. He looked a little bit like Seth, but he didn't have Seth's blonde hair.

Aunt Sue pointed to the man and said, "This is Harry, Seth and Leah's dad, and your uncle. Harry, you remember Aaron and Allie?" Harry smiled at us.

"Yes," he replied. "I remember you two. I remember when little Allie would get Leah's help and pelt Aaron and Seth with balloons filled with paint." I chuckled. I remembered doing that. Leah had always been my partner in crime when it came to messing with the boys. Aaron and Seth groaned at the memory.

"Please dad," Seth pleaded. "No need to relive the past." Harry chuckled and nodded.

"Alright, of course. Why don't you three go out and have bonding time. It's been a while since you've been together." Seth nodded and started to go toward the door. As we began to leave, Uncle Harry seamed to remember something suddenly and stopped us. "Can I speak with Aaron for a second?" he asked as soon as we opened the door. Aaron motioned for us to go on. Seth took me to the garage where his motorcycle was. Although I didn't know much about motorcycles, it was really neat looking, so I let Seth go on about explaining what kind of bike it was and other things like that. Seth even said that if I wanted to I could drive it later. The keys were always kept in the tool chest in the back. We kept talking until Aaron rejoined us a few minutes later. He looked like he was deep in thought when I saw him. This caused me to grow very concerned.

"Hey Aaron, are you alright?" I asked him worriedly. He looked up at me for a moment before rubbing his head.

"Yeah I'm alright. Hey guys, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to hang out this afternoon. I'm really sorry Allie, but I need to do something for Uncle Harry." My face fell. I loved Seth like a second brother, but Aaron was the person who had always helped me to keep a level head when I was majorly depressed, and I think this moment qualified as majorly depressed.

I softly replied, "But what am I supposed to do while you're gone?" Aaron's face seamed to get much sadder when I asked this.

He pulled me into a hug and whispered, "Don't worry. If you need me, just call. I'll stop whatever I'm doing and come to you as soon as you need me. I promise." I hugged him back but didn't reply. Aaron never left me much, so when he did, it was really important. I couldn't stop him from doing what he needed to do.

"Alright," I said finally. "Just join us as soon as you can." Aaron smiled sadly at me and nodded. He waved to Seth before jumping into his car and driving off down the road. I sighed and smiled softly at Seth. I couldn't let him know just how much I was dependent on Aaron just yet. He would probably find out soon enough, but I wanted to at least try and be normal for one day.

"So what do you want to do?" I asked him. Seth thought for a moment before smiling widely.

"How about we go down to the beach? We can swim and surf if you still know how to cuz." I smirked and poked him in the chest.

"Watch it Seth. I'll whip your tail with my wicked surfing skills." Seth started laughing causing me to glare slightly at him in a playful manner.

He put his hands in a defeated position before him and gasped out, "Oh yeah, I bet you could." I smiled and went back inside to change into my new bathing suit I bought last month getting ready for summer. I came back downstairs to find Seth already ready. I smiled at him and the two of us went outside.

"Let's walk there," Seth suggested. "It's not that far, and you need to get used to the land. Ya never know when you need to walk by your little old self." I rolled my eyes and grabbed my surf board out of the grass. That was one of the few things I left in the truck instead of taking inside when we first unpacked, but Aaron had went ahead and taken it out just in case I wanted to use it while he was gone.

After Seth got his board out of the garage, we started walking toward FirstBeach. I felt a lot better now than I did earlier. I guess moving here was a good choice since I was already starting to feel better after being left alone. Still, a part of me hurt and was scared to be without Aaron. Seth led me to the beach in about fifteen minutes. I was glad we lived so close to the beach because I had always loved to be around the water. It's always been like my second home.

Seth ran to the water as soon as we got there. I chuckled and began to set up a little area for us once we got out. I put down a towel on the sand and quickly applied some sunscreen before running out to be with him. We played around for a while, splashing and dunking each other until we decided to start surfing.

Aaron had never been very good at surfing, but he managed to stay up on his board most of the time. Usually, when ever the two of us would surf, I would go on low waves and stay close in case he lost his balance. Seth and I, on the other hand, were having a surf war. I had to use every single trick and move I knew just to stay even with him. In the end, however, Seth still won. I panted as we walked back into shore after a major wave caused us both to wipe out.

I dropped my board and pretended to bow to Seth while saying, "I bow to the champion." He laughed so hard his eyes started watering at my jester.

"You weren't so bad, but you'll never compare to my super awesome unmatchable moves!" he exclaimed doing a pose that said, 'I'm better than everyone else.' I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well don't get cocky. Just because you're a little better at surfing doesn't mean I can't beat you at any other water sport." Seth raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a challenge," he asked mischievously. I swallowed before nodded while smiling at him.

I replied, "Yep. I can take you on no matter what it is." Seth smirked.

"Alright, let's have a little race then. First one to the dingy thing out there and back wins." I looked to where he was pointing and smiled.

"Okay, what kind of race? Paddling, swimming, or what?"

Seth smiled and replied, "Swimming. Backstroke." I sighed. The backstroke was my worst kind of swimming because I kept changing directions. I put on my most determined face though and held out a hand for Seth to shake.

He took it and I said, "Game on." Before he could realize what happened, I ran toward the water and dived in and got started. His eyes were wide for a moment before he ran into the water and started swimming. I was at least fifteen feet ahead of him though and was smiling brightly. As long as I could just keep my direction right, I'd win this one. I looked up to make sure I was still heading toward the dingy thing we were racing to. I adjusted my course slightly and made it there in record time. I held onto it for a second while catching my breath before starting back. I passed Seth who pushed me under the water with his arm.

I popped back up and glared at him as I continued swimming. It felt like I was back in one of my swim competitions in Texas, and there was a large crowd that cheered for me in my head as I swam into shore. Seth came in a few seconds later, and I glared at him. I went up and started poking my finger into his chest.

"You cheater!" I yelled. "You pushed me under!" Seth laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry cuz, I didn't mean to push ya under. I didn't see you there besides, you got a head start." I continued to glare at him.

"Sure you didn't mean to. I'm not doing any more races with you Mr. Cheater." Seth laughed and rubbed his head some more.

"Oh alright. Hey, why don't we go cliff diving!" he proposed excitedly. "Aaron and I used to go when you'd come visit, but you've never been. I'm sure you'd have a blast." I found the idea exciting so I nodded rapidly in response.

"That'd be fun! Let's go." I ran in a random direction away from him before stopping in my tracks. I turned back around and asked, "Where do we go?" Seth chuckled at my sudden action.

He pointed in the opposite direction I had been running off to and said, "We go this way so we can climb up the cliffs." I followed Seth as he led us to a path that went strait up to the top of the cliffs. As we stood there looking over the edge, all my excitement about doing this earlier melted away and was replaced with fear. I backed up into Seth's chest.

"Um," I whimpered. "I change my mind." Seth chuckled.

"Don't tell me you're scared?" I glared up at him and crossed my arms.

I replied, "I'm not scared. I just don't think jumping one-hundred feet into freezing cold water where there are possibly super sharp rocks waiting to impale me through the heart is such a smart idea." Seth laughed and put his arm around my shoulders.

"What if I jumped with you? I can save you if something happens." I sighed and looked back to the edge, doubt creeping into me.

"I don't know…"

"Oh come on Al," Seth said putting on his best pleading voice. "You're the one who said it'd be fun." I sighed in defeat.

"Alright, but only if you come…" I didn't get a chance to finish what I was saying, for Seth grabbed a hold of me, ran toward the edge, and jumped at least ten feet forward. I started screaming and held onto Seth for dear life. After a second or two, I stopped screaming in fear and started screaming in joy. The adrenaline that ran through me was amazing as we fell down toward the water. I closed my eyes and held my breath a second before we hit the water. Seth had turned so he took most of the impact from the fall. I was thankful for that because I just know that if I was the one who fell into the water first, the force combined with Seth's weight would have crushed me like a soda can.

The water was so cold it caused my entire body to go numb. I held onto Seth as he swam toward the shore. As soon as we were out of the water, I started shivering. Seth hovered around me, worried. I tried to smile at him as my teeth chattered together.

"L-le-let's d-d-do it a-a-aga-again," I stuttered through my clattering teeth. Seth bellowed out laughter and rubbed a towel on my head.

"Na munchkin," Seth replied wrapping me up in the towel. "Maybe we'll do it again later. Right now, let's get you home so you can warm up." I nodded in agreement, ready to be warm again.

We practically ran home. Well, I practically ran home. Seth just ran to keep up with me. He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder when we got into the drive way. I screamed in surprise and started hitting his back to make him put me down.

I yelled out, "Put me down!" Seth laughed and ran around on the drive way.

"But it's so much fun to mess with you." I narrowed my eyes and continued to pound on his back as we went inside. I heard Aunt Sue gasp when she saw Seth carrying me.

"Is everything okay?" she asked concerning. Seth nodded and pointed at me with his thumb.

"I'm just taking her up to her room. Don't worry, everything's fine." Aunt Sue sighed in relief and waved at me as I saw her when Seth took me upstairs. He dropped me on my bed before going to his own room. I sighed. Aaron always would throw me over his shoulder when we were younger just to annoy me, and now he had passed on the evil deed to Seth. I laid on my bed for a while before jumping up. I didn't want to pick out any clothes and change in the bathroom, so I grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom to shower.

I made sure the door was locked before shredding my clothes and getting into the shower. It's not that I didn't trust my brother and cousin, but I didn't want one of them accidently walking in on me. That would be awkward. I stayed in the shower for a good hour letting the hot water run down my back. When the water started to grow cold, I washed my hair and body and jumped out of the shower, literally. I miscalculated my jump and somehow ended up falling over the toilet and ended up on the floor.

"Ow," I mumbled while rubbing my lower back. Someone banged on the door.

"Allie," came Seth's worried voice. "Are you alright?" I sighed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fell," I replied looking at my legs. My leg was now bleeding slightly, again. When we were on our way home, I had tripped over a large rock and landed on a tree cutting my leg from my knee to the middle of my thigh. It had stopped bleeding when we got home earlier, so I didn't patch it up. Since it was opened again, I decided I should go ahead and bandage it up this time. I reached up into the cupboard and pulled out a roll of bandages. I used a washcloth to cleanse my 'injury' if you could call it that. Once I was done with that, I wrapped up my leg and slowly stood up. It hurt a little to stand on it, but it was bearable.

I wrapped my towel around my body and slowly cracked open the door. No one was outside, so I walked down the hallway and into my bedroom. I quickly changed into a plain black t-shirt and jeans and went back downstairs. Seth was sitting there along with an older girl I immediately recognized as Leah. I squealed in excitement and ran up behind her.

"Leah!" I exclaimed hugging her from behind. Leah was the sister I never had. She was surprised at first before she turned around and hugged me back.

"Allie! I'm so happy to see you!" I smiled at her after we broke apart. "How have you been?" My smile faltered for a moment, but I quickly fixed it.

"I'm awesome now. I've missed you so much. Do you want to spend the rest of the afternoon together? We have a lot to catch up on." Leah smiled and nodded.

"Sure, how about we go into town? We can shop, watch a movie, eat, and just hang out and catch up. Sound fun?" I smiled and looked over to Aunt Sue who was sitting on the couch.

I asked, "Aunt Sue, is it alright if we go into town? We'll be back later." Aunt Sue looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at the two of us.

"Sure, I don't mind. Just be back before eleven. School starts tomorrow." Since Leah had her own car, we didn't have to worry about asking to borrow anyone's, so we rushed out and sped into town. Leah and I took this moment to catch up.

"So what have you been doing?" I asked casually. "How are you and Sam?" Leah's eyes turned dark, and I just knew I'd hit a bad spot.

She whispered, "We broke up. He left me for my cousin Emily." My eyes widened in shock. Last time I'd seen Leah and Sam, they were planning to get married. Sam had even asked me the best way to propose to Leah! How could Emily ruin that?

"I'm so sorry," I whispered back giving Leah a side hug. She smiled weakly.

"It's alright," she replied. "I'm getting over it. They couldn't help it. I forgive Sam." I stared at her in shock. I could never forgive Sam if I was in Leah's shoes.

"Why do you forgive him?" I asked in disbelief. "You two were going to get married, and he ruined it so he could be with your _cousin._ That would be like my ex-boyfriend leaving me to be with you. That's just wrong!" Leah sighed and pulled into the mall parking lot. The two of us sat there in silence until Leah finally responded.

"You just can't understand," she said softly. "At least not right now. Maybe later you'll be able to understand." I sighed in response.

I said, "Fine. But when you think I'll be able to understand, I expect a full explanation." Leah chuckled at my trying-to-be-serious face.

"Deal." We shook hands on it. Leah smiled and stretched her arms out in front of her as far as they could go. "Now then, let's get into those shops. I have to make sure you get the perfect outfit for tomorrow." I smiled back at her and hopped out of the car ready to start my day.

The two of us got home later that night around 10:30. Aaron was waiting up for us when we got home. He smiled at me and gave me a bone crushing hug the moment I came through the door. I smiled back up at him never letting go of him.

"You have no idea how worried I was when I got back home and you weren't here," Aaron playfully scolded. I chuckled into his chest.

I replied, "I was with Leah. Perfectly safe from danger." Aaron rolled his eyes.

"You, my dearest sister, are never perfectly safe from danger. You attract danger to you wherever you go. It gets annoying sometimes ya know?" I rolled my eyes now in response.

"I'm just happy to be back with you. Don't leave again any time soon please. At least until we've been here for a while." Aaron's face softened. He pulled me closer to him and the warmth from his body radiated onto mine keeping me nice and warm.

"I'll try not to." I smiled sadly and the two of us stood there for a while longer until someone cleared their throat from behind us.

"I'm sorry to break up this beautiful brother-sister moment, but you, Allie, have school tomorrow, and we wouldn't want you falling asleep at the desks." Aaron and I pulled apart to see Aunt Sue standing there with a big smile on her face. I smiled back at her and nodded in reply.

"Alright Aunt Sue," Aaron said back to her. "We'll head up to bed. I agree with you on actually being able to stay awake while she's at school tomorrow. I wouldn't want little Allie here to end up failing a grade." Aaron held onto me and let me upstairs to my room. The two of us sat down on my bed and lay back looking at the ceiling.

After a while, I looked over to Aaron and asked, "When I'm at school, how will I be able to keep my cool without you around?" Aaron sighed and closed his eyes.

"Well, I've got some friends…"

"Already?" I interrupted. "We've not even been here a day." Aaron chuckled lightly.

"I kept in contact with the people I knew here from when we were younger. Now as I was saying, I've got some friends who have the same classes as you; there are two of them. Their names are Paul and Jared. I went up to the school earlier when I went out and made sure one or both of those two are in each of your classes so you're not alone. I'm going to come up during lunch every day to see how you're doing, and if it gets too much for you to handle, just pick up the phone and call me. I'll come to you as soon as you call."

I felt somewhat relived that Aaron was doing all of this for my sake, but I also was nervous about the whole thing. I didn't know who these Paul and Jared people were, and I wasn't very excited about having to be away from Aaron for more than a few minutes at a time. Earlier I was able to get through the day because Aaron told me he was just a phone call away, but I can't call him in school, and even if I do call him, I can't take him away from what he's doing. He wants to get a job and do things other twenty year olds do, like get a girlfriend. When we moved up here, he broke it off with Shannon because she wanted to stay in Texas, and neither of them wanted a long-distance relationship. Both took it fairly well and promised to remain good friends with each other. And also, I'm not a baby. I can make it a few hours without my big brother around.

"I love you," I whispered into the empty air. Aaron rolled over and pulled me into a hug.

He whispered back, "I love you too. I'll never leave you alone. You are always first in my life." I smiled weakly and crawled under the covers. Aaron stayed with me in my room, holding me close to him, until I eventually fell asleep. The only thing wrong with sleeping, nightmares haunt my dreams. Oh well. Not everything can go as desired.

_They were fighting over me. I knew it. My fifteen year old brother, Aaron, held onto me tightly as I cried in my room. The sound of their screaming could be heard from here. I don't know exactly what they were fighting about, but I knew it was my fault._

_"Why are they fighting?" I whispered softly into Aaron's chest. "Why won't they stop?" Aaron gently rubbed my head in an effort to calm me down._

_"Don't cry," he whispered back. "They'll stop soon." Right after he said that, there was a loud crash downstairs that sounded like glass breaking. I gasped slightly and felt Aaron's arms tighten around me. For a nine year old, this was terrifying._

_Aaron began shaking like he was angry. I looked up at him with a tear stained face._

_"Aaron," I whimpered. "Are you alright?" Aaron's eyes were closed tight. He slowly stood up and let go of me causing me to whimper slightly. His eyes snapped open._

_He embraced me once again and whispered, "Don't worry. I'll be back soon." I watched with sad eyes as Aaron left my bedroom and went downstairs. I could hear Aaron and dad yelling at each other from where I sat in the darkening light. With tears running down my face, I climbed off my bed and slowly walked into the living room where everyone was at._

_"Why can't you just let it go?" Dad yelled. "It's my decision. Not yours." Aaron scoffed._

_He replied, "Why can't you just admit you made a mistake? We need to go back." Dad glared at Aaron. Mom was standing off to the side rubbing her head in frustration._

_"If we go back, we'll be trapped there forever. I won't allow my children to grow up in such a manor."_

_Mom stepped in, "What did Billy even say? What could he have said that made you so firm on never going back to the only home you ever knew as a child?" Dad laughed mockingly._

_"He said they had a pest problem and needed help. He wanted me to come back up there, and it's something I can not do. The last time I was up there I…" Dad paused and closed his eyes in emotional pain. I watched him with concerned eyes. "I lost my sister…" he whispered. Aaron's expression softened for a moment. Dad glanced between Mom and Aaron for a moment before making his way toward the door._

_"Where are you going?" Mom asked softly. Dad paused in the door way._

_He replied, "I'm leaving. I'm tired of dealing with this. Everything has become such a bother now-a-days. I'd rather be on my own for now on." My eyes widened so much I thought they'd fall out. I rushed forward from my hiding place behind the stairs strait to where Dad was. I attached myself to his leg surprising everyone there._

_"Please don't leave me daddy. I love you so much. Please don't leave me. I won't bother you ever again just please stay and be my daddy." Dad closed his eyes and looked away from me._

_"I'm sorry Allie," he whispered so softly I almost didn't hear him. "You just don't understand." He shook me off his leg and opened up the door. Aaron's anger flared once more._

_He stepped forward and yelled, "Do you not care that your nine year old daughter is crying? Do you not care that you are going to be hurting her for the rest of her life?" Aaron was now standing directly in front of Dad. He was a little taller than him, and it occurred to me that these past few weeks Aaron has gotten a lot bigger than he used to be. Dad narrowed his eyes at Aaron._

_He yelled back, "You think I don't care? The only reason I'm leaving is because I care! You have no idea what's going on!" Aaron began shaking more viciously than before._

_"David!" Mom called out. Dad looked back at her for a moment. The two of them had a silent conversation between their eyes before Dad nodded slightly. Mom rushed over to me and picked me up. She held me close to her as Dad tried to take Aaron by the arm and lead him out back._

_"Don't touch me!" Aaron yelled out in anger. He looked back to where Mom was holding me and his eyes widened. He ran over to us and tried to get me away from Mom. Before he could touch me, Mom turned so that Aaron couldn't reach me. He grinded his teeth together in anger and what sounded like a growl came from his throat._

_Aaron glared viciously at Mom and said slowly, "Give her to me now." Mom kept a determined face on her and held her stand._

_"No Aaron. You're out of control. You could hurt her." Aaron clenched his fists. Dad swallowed hard._

_He said, "Sally, give Allie to Aaron." Mom looked to Dad with fearful eyes. He nodded slowly toward Aaron. Mom hesitated for a moment but reluctantly handed me into Aaron's arms. He held me possessively close to him, and it was then I noticed that Aaron had grown much warmer. I looked up to him with tears still running from my eyes._

_"Are you sick?" I asked softly. Aaron looked down at me with soft eyes._

_"What?" he asked softly. "Why would I be sick?" I rubbed my eyes and shrugged._

_I whispered back, "I just thought maybe you were sick since you're really warm." Aaron smiled sadly at me and wrapped his arms tightly back around me. Dad stood very tense a few yards away from us._

_"Aaron," he said slowly. Aaron turned his head and glared at Dad. "Why don't you take Allie up to bed? She must be tired. It's really late." Aaron looked down at me then back at Dad. After a few minutes, Aaron nodded. He walked past Mom and up the stairs. My bedroom door was still wide open, so he walked through it and gently laid me down on my bed. He smiled at me and wrapped the blankets around me._

_"I'll be back soon," he whispered. I smiled weakly up at him and closed my eyes. Aaron smiled to himself and kissed my forehead once more before leaving my room, shutting the door behind him. He went back down stairs were Mom and Dad were waiting._

_Aaron had a blank face on as he looked strait at dad and said, "This isn't the first time like you think it is." Dad moved to say something, but Aaron held up a hand to signal him to be quite. "I know the basics, but I'd like to learn more. I'm going to go back up there for a while to learn about everything I can't learn on my own here. I will be back. I won't tell them where we are. I won't tell them anything about you. I ask that you keep Allie safe until I get back. Tell her I went on a field trip or something. Just don't tell her about any of this yet. She'll have to find out eventually, but not yet. If I come back and she's been hurt in any way, I'll come strait to you first. Do we have an agreement?" Dad nodded._

_He stepped forward and said, "Aaron, I love you very much. You're my son. I only want to watch out for you." Aaron smirked._

_"I understand," he replied. "But I don't trust you. You almost got Allie killed when she was only a month old. It's hard for me just to leave her for a little while now." Dad looked away in shame. "But I trust you enough for now. I'll be back in a month." Aaron walked towards the open door. He paused for a moment._

_"Mom," he said softly. She looked at Aaron with concerned eyes. He smiled softly._

_"Aaron," she whispered._

_"See you when I get back." With that, he left out the door into the darkness. I watched him out my window as he disappeared into the darkness, and as the last piece of my beloved brother disappeared under the night sky, the remainder of my restless sleep turned into darkness as well._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my alarm at 6:00am. Although the continuous beeping was getting very annoying, I wasn't awake enough to lean over and turn it off, so I left it on. After a while, I slowly began to fall asleep again, and I would have been able to do so had it not been for the fact I forgot Aaron had very good hearing. If that weren't enough, Aaron's room was directly next to mine and our beds were against the same wall. Therefore, as soon as I was about to fall asleep again, a very drowsy Aaron stumbled into my room.

"Turn that stupid thing off," he murmured. "I'm still tired." I took in a deep breath. I leaned up and pushed the off button on the top of my alarm clock. Aaron sighed in relief. "Thanks," he mumbled almost non-coherently. "Now I'm going back to bed." After Aaron left, I sighed in annoyance.

Slowly, I turned and stumbled out of bed. I skid my sock covered feet across the hard wood floors into the bathroom across the hall. Quickly, I striped down and jumped into the shower. As the warm water rinsed over me, I woke up more so and began to grow excited. This was my first day of school.

At 6:23 I wrapped a towel around myself and slipped back into my bedroom unnoticed by the others sharing the same floor as me. I got dressed in my favorite jeans, a simple black t-shirt, my tennis-shoes, and a black hoodie that said, 'I can't help but be AWESOME!' on the front in big orange letters.

Once I was satisfied with my clothes choice, I started on my hair. I turned my hair dryer on the lowest setting it could go (so I wouldn't disturb everyone else too much) and dried my long blondish hair. Because the dryer was so low, it took me almost fifteen minutes to completely dry my hair. Once it was dry, however, I ran a brush through it and let it hang down naturally. I applied eye liner and a light purple eye shadow. I stood in front of my vanity mirror and admired myself. I smiled softly and did a quick twirl. Perfect.

At exactly 7:30, I skipped down the stairs and into the living room. I chuckled when I saw Seth and Aaron barely awake sitting on the couch. I came up behind Aaron and gave him a hug.

"Good morning," I said into his ear, kissing the top of his head. He groaned causing me to roll my eyes. "Fine then Mr. Idonotlikemornings. I'm sure Seth wouldn't mind a hug." I moved over and gave Seth a hug instead. Seth didn't groan in response, but he didn't say anything is response either.

I walked around the couch and into the kitchen where Aunt Sue was busy making breakfast. She smiled when she saw me come inside. I told her good morning and took a seat at the table.

"How are you this morning?" she asked sweetly. I smiled and shrugged.

"Alright I suppose," I replied. "A little tired, but I'm much better than the two rocks in the living room." Someone chuckled from behind me and wrapped their arms around my neck. Because of how warm and how big the arms are, I concluded it was most like Aaron.

"Hey." I was right. "I am most definitely _not _a rock. I am up and moving." I rolled my eyes.

"Sure. How long did it take you to get out of bed?" Aaron rolled his eyes and flicked the back of my head.

He replied, "It took me no longer than…" He had to pause for a moment to count up the amount of time it took him from the moment he woke up to the moment he actually got up and came downstairs. "Thirty minutes. If that. Though, my morning didn't start off to the best with having to hear that 'beep…beep…beep…' right in my ear." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm surprised you even remember getting up. It was really early you know. 6:00am!" Aaron smacked me on the back of the head and sat down in the chair next to mine. Aunt Sue chuckled as the two of us interacted together. After a while, Seth stumbled into the kitchen and sat down next to Aaron. He laid his head down on the table and began breathing evenly as though he fell asleep again.

"So," started Aunt Sue. "Are you going to go looking for a job this morning Aaron?" I turned my attention to my brother. Aaron shrugged.

He replied, "Maybe. I'm mainly up because Sam asked me to come see him after dropping Allie and Seth off at school." I raised an eyebrow.

"Sam? As in Sam Uley?" Aaron raised his eyebrows at me and nodded.

"Yes, Sam Uley. Why? Do you know him?" I started to nod then stopped and began to shake my head then stopped again.

"Well, kind of. He was the guy that was engaged to Leah then broke it off to be with her cousin Emily. I was just surprised you would be going to see him. And now that I think about it, why _are _you going to see Sam Uley?" Aaron and Aunt Sue grew quite. I looked back and forth between the two of them sensing the strange tension in the air.

Eventually, Aaron answered, "Sam just… He's one of the friends I told you about that I have besides the two at your school. He… he said he's got some work for me for a while until I can find a job." I looked between Aunt Sue and Aaron again. There was something they weren't telling me, and I didn't like it. However, at the time, I can't say or do anything that would prove this thought true. They'd just deny it. Therefore, I nodded slowly and allowed Aaron and Aunt Sue to begin talking about something else.

As I sat there, a million thoughts were racing through my head. Why was Aaron really going to see Sam? Why would he lie to me? Was what Aaron doing connected to why Sam broke up with Leah? What is the real reason Sam left Leah for Emily? And most importantly, what was everyone keeping from me, and was it in any way connected… with my parent's death? I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. So many things to figure out… I suppose it's a good thing I have a long time to figure everything out.

Aaron dropped Seth and me off at school at 7:52. Seth said he'd wait for me to catch up while I said bye to Aaron.

"I'll miss you," I whispered. Aaron smiled weakly and put his hand against my cheek. A single tear fell from my eye, but Aaron quickly rubbed it away with his thumb.

"Don't worry," he whispered back. "I'll come to you as soon as you need me. Just give me a call." I opened my eyes and smiled back at Aaron. I reached through the window and gave him a long hug. As he drove away, I felt another tear trying to break loose from my eye. A hand rested itself on my shoulder.

I looked up at Seth's concerned face. He said, "Hey, it's all right. Let's go ahead inside. We need to make sure you have everything you need." I smiled up at Seth and gave him a hug which surprised him. After a few moments, he hugged me back.

We let go, and I said, "Thanks for being here for me. It really helps." Seth smiled a crocked smile and chuckled.

"I do my best cuz. Now let's go." Seth took me to the office so I could get my schedule and a map of the school.

After waiting in line for about ten minutes, Seth leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Hey, I have to go. I've got to do something for one of my teachers before classes start. I shouldn't take too long. Just go ahead and get what you need, and if I'm not back when you're done, just wait on one of the benches outside. I shouldn't take more than about ten or so minutes. Do you think you can last that long?" I sucked in my breath and held it for a moment. I could make it without someone here for a few minutes. How hard could it be?

"I'll be fine," I whispered back. "Go do what you need to do." Seth smiled sadly at me one last time before disappearing out the door and down the hall. I let my breath out and turned back toward the front. There was only one person in front of me, and they were just finishing up.

"Next," the woman at the desk called out. Slowly, I took a step forward. The woman looked up at me for a moment before looking back to her computer. "May I help you?" she asked.

I took a deep breath and softly said, "Yes. I'm a new student here, Alliena Syst. I need my paperwork." The woman did a few things on the computer before acknowledging me.

"I asked if I could help you. Did you not hear me?" I closed my eyes and took another breath before nodding.

"Yes ma'm. I asked if you could get my paperwork for me. I'm the new student, Allie Syst." The woman heard me this time and swerved around in her chair to a filing cabinet. She dug through a few drawers before pulling out a folder.

"Ah," she drew out. "Here we are. Allie Syst. Here is your schedule and forms you need to get signed by each teacher. Would you like a map of the school?" I nodded. "Here you are. Class starts in twenty minutes at 8:30 on the dot. Don't be late, but if you do end up lost and are late, it'll be excused, only for today. You're locker is number 231 and the combination is on your schedule form. Good luck."

I thanked the woman for her help and left the office. I looked up and down the hall for Seth, but he was no where in sight. I sighed in frustration.

"Well," I thought to myself. "I'm sure I can get along without him. I just need to get to my locker then come back. It shouldn't take too long." I swallowed one last time before starting down the hallway. I read along the locker numbers until I got to 231. I sighed in relief at being able to find the locker and punched in the combination, and the locker opened with ease.

I looked at my schedule. I had World History, Algebra II, Study Hall, English, Lunch, Biology, Free Period, Art, and P.E. I went ahead and kept the things I would need for my first two classes and decided since the Library, which is where Study Hall is held, is on the same hall as my locker, I would get what I needed for third and fourth then. Okay."

I put the things I wouldn't need into the locker and took the rest with me back towards the office. When I arrived back, Seth was pacing back and forth while talking on the phone. I chuckled when I got close enough to hear what he was saying.

"I'm sorry Aaron; I just don't know where she went... No I didn't… She could be anywhere… Fifteen minutes… I'm not over reacting!" I chuckled lightly and put a hand on Seth's shoulder. He spun around and sighed in relief at the sight of me. He said into the phone, "It's alright. I found her… right where I left her… don't say I told you so!" I chuckled and took the phone from Seth.

"Hey Aaron," I whispered into the receiver.

A deep voice replied, "Hey sis. Stressing Seth out already? I thought you'd wait at least until after first period." I chuckled.

"Na," I replied. "It's too fun to stress him out. Fun and easy." Aaron laughed into the phone.

"Well you two get to class. Have a good day, and I'll be there at lunch. Love ya." I smiled sadly and closed my eyes tight.

"Love ya too. Bye." I snapped the phone shut and held it strait out with my eyes still closed. Seth took the phone and looked at me worriedly.

He asked softly, "Are you alright?" I bit my bottom lip for a moment before nodding. I opened my eyes and put on a fake smile.

"I'm perfectly fine." Seth had a look of doubt cross his face, but he dismissed it.

He asked, "Hey, let me see your schedule. We might have classes together." I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"How would we have classes together? I'm a sophomore and you're a freshman." Seth smiled.

He replied, "At our school, there could be any grade in any of your classes. It just depends on who's taking what. The only thing organized by grade is Art, and that's only because it's the only required class every year that changed the curriculum depending on what grade you're in." I nodded slightly and handed him my schedule. His explanation didn't really make since, but I could deal with it. Seth smiled.

"Do we have any classes?" I asked. Seth nodded.

"We have first, fourth, and sixth together." I nodded again then remembered that Aaron said he had some friends in each of my classes.

I quickly asked, "Hey Seth, do you know two guys named Paul and Jared?" Seth narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. They're both in our first class. Why?" I got the feeling Seth didn't really like these two guys by the way he reacted, but since I already started the conversation, I might as well finish it.

"Well, Aaron said Paul and Jared were his friends, and he asked them to watch out for me while at school. Do you think you can point them out to me first period?" Seth looked to the ground like he was deep in thought.

Instead of answered my question, he asked, "Aaron said they were his friends?" I nodded. He rubbed the side of his head and mumbled, "Why would Aaron hang out with them?" Seth turned his attention back to me. He continued, "I'll point them out to you, but make sure you're careful around them. I've heard some bad rumors about them. They aren't exactly the most social people. They hang out with their group which, until now I suppose, consisted of Paul, Jared, Leah's ex-fiancée, Sam, and even Leah's been hanging out with them more. I don't know why Aaron would be hanging out with them, but they're kind of like a gang. There are rumors they do drugs and a bunch of other bad stuff." He paused as though thinking something through before finishing. "If Aaron thinks you're safe being with them, by all means be with them. Aaron would never do anything to hurt you. I'd just be careful if I were you. I wouldn't want my little Allie getting hurt." I smiled at his concern and gave Seth a big hug.

"I love you a lot Seth," I mumbled. Seth smiled and hugged me back.

"Love you too cuz. Now come on, we'll be late for first if we don't hurry." I nodded and Seth led us down the hall to World History.

Have you ever had one of those teachers where when a new student is in the classroom for the first time, they have the need to make them stand up, introduce themselves to the entire class, and tell them something about themselves? I absolutely hate those teachers, but as my luck would have it, that's the kind of teacher I had first period.

Seth and I got into the classroom about thirty seconds before the bell rang, so he wasn't able to point out Paul and Jared to me so I'd know who they were. Seth didn't have any available seats, so I ended up having to set in the only empty seat in the back behind this huge guy. The guy looked to be a native from the reservation, but that wasn't surprising since most everyone here was. What surprised me, though, was that he was bigger than a normal high school student should be. He reminded me of Aaron on the way he was built. When the class started, I tried to hide behind the guy in front of me, but to no avail. The teacher, Mr. Kink, still had me introduce myself.

"Class, it seams we have a new student. Ms. Syst, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about you? You don't have to come to the front if you don't want." I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth in annoyance. I'd rather have stayed unannounced the entire class period, but it seams that wouldn't be happening.

Slowly, I stood up and looked around the class room. Everyone had turned so that they had their eyes focused in on me. I took a deep breath and said, "Hi. My name is Allie Syst, and I just moved here with my brother, Aaron, from Texas." I started to sit down but the teacher stopped me.

He asked, "Why'd you move all the way up here? That's an awful long way's away. Texas all the way to Washington." I could feel my jaw start trembling. I clenched my hands, but they were sweaty and sticky. I tried to breathe in and out slowly to calm myself down, but the pain in my heart was building. I closed my eyes tight to keep tears from falling down. I tried to say something, but my voice seamed to have vanished in an instant.

My first instinct was to run out of the class room. I wanted to run away from here, from this situation, but that would not be a good way to start off at a new school. However, I didn't know how much longer I could stay in this spot as Mr. Kink waited for an answer along with the rest of the class. I glanced to Seth for help. His eyes were filled with sadness. He looked to the door then back to me. This was his way of saying if I left to calm down, it would be alright. He'd explain everything to Mr. Kink. I gave him a look of appreciation before looking back to Mr. Kink.

"I," my voice cracked. "Do you mind if I… leave for a moment?" I was on the urge of tears. I needed to call Aaron. "I need to call my brother," I added softly. Mr. Kink narrowed his eyes.

"Now, child, I do not just let kids walk out of my classroom. I simply asked a question, and I expect you to give me an answer without leaving. You can do whatever it is you need to do later." I closed my eyes and felt a tear fall down my cheek. The boy that was sitting in front of me clenched his hands together and started shaking in anger.

He glared at Mr. Kink and said, "She needs to leave the class room. Let her go." Mr. Kink started off again saying how he didn't allow students to leave in the middle of class. Appearently the guy had enough of Mr. Kink and stood up himself. He put an arm around my shoulder and led me out of the classroom with Mr. Kink yelling the entire time.

"If you two leave, don't come back into my classroom!" Mr. Kink exclaimed. The guy leading me ignored Mr. Kink and led the two of us out of the room and down the hall. Once we were outside, I let the tears fall. The boy wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close to him. I didn't care that I didn't even know who this person was. He was wiling to help someone he didn't know, and for that I was grateful. As I cried into his chest, I couldn't help but notice that he was very warm. As warm as Aaron was in fact, and I had never met someone who was as warm as Aaron.

After what felt like hours, I managed to stop sobbing and reduce it down to a dull whimper. The boy holding onto me looked down on my tear stained face and quietly asked, "Are you alright?" Slowly I nodded.

"I'm fine," I whimpered. "I just need to call my brother." The boy nodded and had me sit down on one of the benches. He sat down next to me and watched closely as I pulled out my phone and dialed Aaron's number.

"Allie," came Aaron's worried voice after only one ring. "What's wrong?" I slowly explained to him what happened, the whole time the boy next to me rubbing my back to try and keep me calm. When I was done Aaron stayed quite.

"Aaron," I whimpered.

Aaron eventually replied, "Who led you out of the classroom?" I opened my mouth to reply, and then remembered I never asked the boy's name. I looked to him.

Somehow, the boy knew my question and simply said, "Paul." I smiled softly and relayed the name to Aaron. I heard Aaron sigh in relief.

"Okay, Allie, maybe it would be best if you came home. Although you're trying to be strong, which I'm ever thankful for, it's only been a little over a month since they died. Paul is one of the friends I told you about. Can I talk to him real quick?" I looked back to Paul.

"Aaron wants to talk to you, Paul," I said softly. "That okay?" Paul smiled slightly and nodded.

"That's fine. Let me see the phone." I put my cell into Paul's outstretched hand. The two talked for a while before Paul gave me my cell phone back.

"Hello?" I asked softly.

"Hey," Aaron said. "Paul's going to give you a ride home then stay there until I get back. No one is there right now, and I don't want you staying by yourself. It should only take about half an hour for me to get back; do you think you'll be alright?"

I smiled softly and replied, "Yeah. I'll be fine." Aaron sighed in relief.

"You're being real strong about all of this. Thanks Allie." The line went dead. I sat there frozen for a while just staring at the phone. I heard Paul clear his throat after a while.

"So," he said softly. "You want to go ahead and get going?" I smiled at Paul shyly and nodded.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'm ready." Paul led me to his car and helped me into the passenger side. Once I fastened my seatbelt, we started down the road. At first, the two of us sat in Paul's truck in silence until he decided he was tired of it.

"So," he started. "How do you like La Push?" I shrugged.

"It's alright," I replied honestly. "I haven't really had a chance to do anything or meet anyone besides going to the beach with my cousin and going shopping with my other cousin. I'd love to have a chance to explore everything, but I don't know when I'll be able to." Paul nodded in understanding.

"Well, I could always show you around. There are a bunch of neat sights I could show you, and I could even introduce you to my friends. I'm sure they'd love you." I smiled at Paul's generosity.

"Thanks," I breathed out. "That's really nice of you to do." Paul blushed slightly and looked away.

He replied, "Don't mention it. You seam like a really cool person." I laughed at this.

When Paul looked to me with a confused expression, I explained, "That's nice of you to say and all, but I'm not a really cool person. I'm just plain old Allie. Aaron and I aren't anything alike, so if you're basing your observation based on him, you're way off base." Paul chuckled lightly.

"I'm actually glad you and Aaron aren't alike," he admitted. "Aaron gets on my nerves so bad. And just so you know…" Paul looked me in the eyes with a crocked grin on his face. I blushed slightly as he leaned in closer to me. "Plain old Allie is anything but ordinary."

I pointed out our house to Paul, but he ended up passing it and had to turn around. When we pulled to a stop in the driveway, Paul and I raced up to the door. Paul won, but I denied this and said I just was going easy on him since I kinda liked him. I opened the front door, and the two of us went inside. I stood in the middle of the living room facing Paul with my arms spread out wide.

I did a quick spin and declared, "Welcome to our amazing house where anything and everything happens." Paul smirked and collapsed onto the couch. I fell down next to him, and the two of us sat in silence for a while.

Eventually, Paul broke the silence, "So, Alliekens, tell me about yourself. What's your favorite animal?" I rolled my eyes.

"Well, Pauly, my favorite animal is a monkey. Yours?" Paul raised an eyebrow.

"Pauly? What's with that?" I chuckled and put my hands on my hips.

I replied, "You called me Alliekens. Call me that, I call you Pauly." Paul rolled his eyes and nodded.

"All right, Alliekens. My favorite animal is most defiantly a wolf." I nodded. "You know, I'm not really a person that can go one question at a time. How about, you just give me a brief over view of Allie Syst." I smirked and took a deep breath.

"Well, Pauly, my full name is Alliena Kale Syst, but I hate the name Alliena. It reminds me too much of a girly girl, so I just go by Allie or Al. I was born November 30 and am currently 15. I actually have two older brothers. Aaron is one of them, but I have a much older brother that's about 27 now and lives in Alaska last time I checked. His name is Austin. My favorite color is blue, song is "Welcome to my Life" by Simple Plan, food is bananas- goes along with the monkey favorite-, movie is Titanic, show is NCIS, shape is octagon, month is April, number is 321, and band is Script. I've been out of the country once when I went on a school field trip to Russia in the sixth grade. I'm an A, B student. I am allergic to milk, dogs, strawberries, and pine trees. I've been to jail twice for the same thing which I'm not going to tell you. And, I skipped third and fourth grade because Aaron was moving up to the bigger school as a sixth grader but that next year was the first year they allowed fifth graders into the school, and Aaron wanted us to be in the same school, however, because I skipped third and fourth grade, I ended up getting held back my first year, and it took me another year to get caught up on third and fourth grade things before I was finally able to pass fifth grade when I was taking fifth grade the year I was supposed to. Aaron never had me skip after that.

Paul chuckled lightly at my story. I really hated Aaron for making me go through three years of fifth grade, but I suppose it was alright since I was with him all that time. Paul's face got serious suddenly and he looked to me.

"You're allergic to dogs? How do you know?" I sighed and rubbed the back of my head.

"Well, when I was about seven years old, my parents got me tested for allergies, and we found out I was allergic then, but we never really believed it until I was nine because I never reacted to being around dogs. When I was nine years old, Aaron suddenly decided he wanted to get a dog, and when I kept sneezing and coughing, there was no doubt as to my allergies. After about two years, my allergies got so bad that I was having sever allergic reactions to being around the dog, so I started to get allergy shots every week. About a month after getting allergy shots, and them working to stop my allergy of dogs, Aaron decided to get rid of the dog. Ever since then, though, Aaron still takes me once a week to get my shot so that I don't end up having a bad allergic reaction to any of the neighbors dogs or anything like that.

Paul nodded in understanding. He seamed to be deep in thought. I opened my mouth to say something, but at that exact moment, there was a knock at the door. I sighed and stood up. I walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Aaron smiling like an idiot. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's up with you?" I asked. Aaron rolled his eyes and walked inside. He fell onto the part of the couch I was previously sitting on. I sighed but didn't protest. I was far too curious to argue that he stole my seat. I leaned back against the armrest of one of the chairs and asked again, "What's going on? Why are you so happy?" Aaron grinned and let out a sigh of relief.

"I met a girl," he replied finally. I raised an eyebrow.

"What's her name?" Aaron leaned his head back.

He sighed out, "Her name is Hannah." From the corner of my eye, it looked like Paul grinned slightly, but I ignored it.

"How old is she?"

"She's thirteen." I raised an eyebrow again.

"Well," I started. "She's a little young. Why did she make you so happy?" Aaron's smile wavered for a moment, but it quickly returned full force.

"She reminded me a lot of you, and I thought maybe you two could become good friends." I gave a half smile. Either Aaron was being very kind to me to try and make me feel better, or he was hiding something from me. Either way, I wanted to meet this Hannah girl.

I asked, "When can I meet her?" Aaron smirked and looked back at me.

He replied, "In about an hour. I invited her and her older brother over." My eyes narrowed.

"Wouldn't she still be in school though?" Aaron shook his head.

"Their both homeschooled." I nodded slightly. I shrugged.

"Alrighty then. I'm going to take a quick nap. Wake me when they get here." I didn't wait for a response, but instead went upstairs to my room and fell onto the bed. My bed seamed so soft right now. I thought through everything that just happened.

I'd never seen Aaron get so happy about a friend he found for _me._ There had to be something he wasn't telling me. Whatever it was, I bet Paul knew as well. I groaned into my pillow. I wrapped my arms around it and closed my eyes. At the moment, I didn't care what secret Aaron and Paul were hiding. All I cared about was sleep.

A hushed voice woke me up, "Allie." Whoever it was shook me until I groaned in response.

"What?" I growled. I opened one eye and looked up at Aaron's smiling face.

"Hannah and her brother are here." I sighed and closed my eye back. I slowly sat up and stretched my arms out as far as they would go.

"I'll be down in five," I mumbled. Aaron nodded and quickly left my room. I sighed and threw my feet off the bed. With my eyes still half closed, I ran a brush through my hair, took off my hoodie leaving me in a simple black shirt and jeans. I took a deep breath in then let it out.

"Come on Allie," I said to myself. "Let's get going." I walked downstairs to the living room where Aaron, Paul, another guy, and a girl were all sitting. Aaron was sitting next to the girl that I assumed was Hannah. Paul was sitting in the far chair and the third guy was sitting on the couch with his back to me. I walked around and sat down next to the guy. Aaron smiled at me.

He pointed to the girl next to him and said, "Allie, this is Hannah." Hannah was one of those people who was a simple beauty. She had short choppy black hair that was spiked up in the back. Her skin was very pale, – well, at least compared to Aaron, Paul and I – and she had bright blue eyes. She was obviously short. About two inches shorter than me, and I was only about 5ft 2in anyway. She wore a dark brown t-shirt and jean shorts. Appearently she didn't get cold very easily. Hannah didn't really wear any makeup, but it's not like she'd need any. She had a perfect complexion. Aaron then motioned to the boy next to me, "and this is Jayden."

I looked to Jayden and had to stop myself from gasping. He had the same pale skin as Hannah did, but his eyes and hair were both jet black. His hair was longer than normal, but it stopped just after his ears and was in a messy yet neat style. Sitting down he appeared to be at least 6ft if not taller, and he was very leanly built. Through his white t-shirt, you could see his entire 6-pack perfectly outlined. He smiled at me which caused me to blush. I kicked myself mentally for it.

"Hello Hannah, Jayden," I replied softly. "It's nice to meet you." Jayden chuckled at my shyness.

He said, "Nice to meet you too, Allie." I pulled my eyes away from Jayden and looked back to Hannah.

"So," I began overcoming my previous behavior. "How did you meet Aaron? He said y'all met earlier today?" Hannah nodded rapidly.

"Yeah," she replied. "I got turned around on my way home from the store and ended up on the beach. Aaron was there with some of his friends and offered to show me back to the main road." I nodded. An awkward silence befell the room. Paul looked at the clock on the wall and sighed.

He spoke up saying, "Hey Aaron, I've got to go. I have work I need to do." My eyes narrowed since it was only about 9:45am, but I didn't say anything. Aaron nodded slightly.

"I don't have to go today. Take my car if you want so you can come back later. Key's are by the door." Paul nodded and stood up. He smiled at me as he went by. I smiled back, and just like that he took the keys off the table next to the door and was gone. Another silence befell the room.

Tired of the silence, I decided to speak up, "Hey, why don't we go cliff diving? Seth took me yesterday, and it was really fun." Aaron raised an eyebrow in question.

"You want to go cliff diving?" I nodded.

Hannah leaned forward in her seat and exclaimed, "That sounds like fun! I wore my bathing suit under my clothes in case we went to the beach. Let's go!" I smiled. I liked Hannah already. Both Aaron and Jayden jumped up.

"Hold on a second," Aaron gasped out.

"Yeah," seconded Jayden. "Isn't it dangerous to go cliff diving?" I rolled my eyes.

I replied, "No. I went yesterday. It's perfectly safe." Neither boy looked sure about the idea. I looked to Hannah who was watching me with pleading eyes. I half smiled at her, and she knew what I was thinking. Gotta love girl telepathy.

Hannah looked up at the guys, "You know, I guess we could always do something else." A wave of relief rushed over the guys faces. I smiled.

"Yeah," I added. "We could always go biking. Seth's got a bike in the garage, and he did say I could drive it if I wanted to." If only I had a camera on me at that moment. Both Aaron and Jayden's eyes grew so large I just knew they would pop out of their heads. They stood their stunned for a moment. I smiled back at Hannah. "Let's go." She smiled back and jumped up. The two of us turned to walk away when we were both forcefully pushed back onto the couch. I looked up to see Jayden with his arms on my shoulders holding me to the couch, and Aaron doing to same to Hannah.

"No," Aaron said simply. "We'll go cliff jumping, but you will _not _under any circumstances, ride that death contraption known as a motorcycle." I smirked at how well the plan worked out. Hannah and I pretended to be disappointed.

"Alright," I said softly.

Hannah sighed and said, "I guess cliff jumping will be a close second to biking." I smiled up at Jayden.

"Excuse me." He looked down at me. "Do you think you can release me so I can go get changed?" Jayden's face grew as red as a tomato. He nodded and quickly removed his hands. I motioned for Hannah to come upstairs with me so she could get ready as well. The two of us went into my room and started laughing. I finally calmed down enough to speak.

"All brothers react the same," I gasped out. "About certain things." Hannah nodded and wiped her eyes.

She replied, "They sure do. I don't think I've ever seen Jayden get up so fast." I chuckled lightly. Hannah sat down on my bed and smiled up at me. She looked around my room and nodded in satisfaction.

"You like it?" I asked after a while. Hannah snapped her eyes back to me and nodded rapidly.

"It's really cool," she replied. "In fact, it reminds me a lot of my room." I smiled and sat down next to her on my bed.

"So," I said simple.

Hannah smiled and also said, "So." I took a deep breath.

I looked back to Hannah and remarked, "So I was watching you earlier, and it looked, to me, that you might, just a little, have a crush on Aaron." Hannah's eyes widened. Her face grew really red as she tried to explain.

"N-no!" she replied. "I…how could I… He's like… a lot older… I would never…" I raised an eyebrow at her. Hannah watched me for a while before sighing in defeat. "Is it that obvious?" she mumbled. I chuckled.

"Na, not really. I didn't really notice anything. I just wanted to see how you'd react." Hannah pretended to look offended.

"How could you?" she asked dramatically. "And here I was thinking we could be friends…" I rolled my eyes and playfully pushed her.

"Oh cut it out." We both chuckled softly for a few moments. Hannah fell back onto my bed and looked up at the ceiling. I did the same.

"I don't know," she started out softly. "I just feel this connection to him, ya know? Not really an I-want-to-date-him-so-bad kind of connection, but more like, a best friend connection." I didn't say anything. I simply let her talk. "I don't really know why. I just met him this morning, but as soon as he asked if I wanted to come hang out with him and you, I just automatically said yes. It just felt right, like even though there's about… an eight year age difference between us because I was going to be around him. I've never felt that way about anyone before. Not even Jayden." When she finished, I sat up. She followed my example and watched me, waiting for me to say something.

I sighed and replied, "I can't pretend to know how that feels because I've never felt it, but something I can tell you, Aaron's a nice guy. He's been acting really strange lately, but that's beside the point." I smiled and placed a hand on Hannah's shoulder. "If you will allow it, I would like to become your honorary sister so that you can always come and have someone to talk to about stuff like this, because I seriously doubt you'd want to talk to Jayden about this." Hannah's face turned just as red as it was before.

"He'd probably kill me if I tried," she replied lightly. I chuckled lightly.

"But if you don't want to talk to me, I'm sure your mom will be just as willing to listen." Hannah's face grew dark. She looked away and closed her eyes tight. I was confused. What had happened?

She whispered, "I would talk to my mom, but she died last year." My heart did two things at once. It sank for her, but it also leapt for joy for me. I was somewhat happy because I wasn't the only one going through the pain of losing a parent. I pulled Hannah into a hug as she began to cry. I rubbed the back of her hair as she cried into my shoulder.

"You're alright," I whispered. "I'm here for you." I pulled away from her gently. Hannah looked up at me with questioning eyes. I smiled sadly and closed my eyes as tears fell down my cheeks. "While I can't understand what you feel concerning Aaron, I can understand this. My mom and dad both died in a car crash last month. That's why I'm here. I couldn't stand to be in the same place where all my old memories were."

Hannah's face remained unchanged. We both hugged each other again and began to cry once more. I didn't care that I was hugging someone I only met half an hour ago. All I cared about was the fact I finally made a friend. One that I could connect to. One that seamed to care about me. Someone knocked on my door, but I didn't care, and apparently Hannah didn't either.

"Hello?" Aaron's voice came through the door. "Are you two alright?"

I knew that if I ignored him long enough, Aaron would simply come into my room, but I didn't care. After about a minute, my prediction came true when Aaron and Jayden both came into my room. Aaron's eyes were filled with pain when he saw that I was crying, but they seamed to also be filled with pain at the sight of Hannah crying too.

He walked over to the bed and sat down right behind the two of us. Because he had such large arms, he easily wrapped both arms around Hannah and me. His eyes were closed tight as he held us close to him.

"It's alright," he whispered. "You're both going to be just fine."

After about fifteen minutes, I managed to stop crying. Hannah came shortly after that. Aaron continued to hold onto us until we were fully recovered. I smiled a small smile towards Hannah. She smiled back. Aaron looked between us and sighed in relief.

"Are you two both better now?" he asked softly. I nodded in response for the two of us.

"Yes," I said weakly. "We're going to be just fine." I smiled back at Hannah once more. "The two of us just found that we have more in common than we thought." Aaron smiled down at me then Hannah. He looked up at Jayden.

He said, "Maybe, if the girls don't mind, we could just stay in today and watch some movies." Jayden nodded, saying he didn't mind. I looked to Hannah, wanting to know what she wanted to do. She nodded once towards me ever so slightly.

I looked up at Aaron and whispered, "We'd prefer that as well." Aaron smiled down at as again and stood up, taking us with him. I looked up at Aaron and asked, "Could you let us go? We're going to change into something a little more comfortable." Aaron smirked and nodded. Once he and Jayden were both out of the room, I smiled at Hannah.

"Would you like to spend the night?" I asked her. "Me, you, and my cousin Leah could all stay up and do fun girl things. And since I'm probably not going to be going to school tomorrow, there wouldn't be any set time we needed to go to sleep. What do you say?" Hannah got the biggest grin on her face.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. She quickly recollected herself. "Well, as long as Jayden says it's alright." I smiled.

"I'm sure he will."

I changed into my pajamas, and I let Hannah borrow my other set I had since she didn't have anything else to change into. We agreed we'd go get her clothes later. Once we were both done, we skipped downstairs were the boys were waiting for us. Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"Planning on taking a nap?" I rolled my eyes and placed my hands on my hips.

"No silly, we're going to watch a movie." Aaron nodded his head up once in a very slow manor.

"Ah," he replied. "Alrighty then. You two can stay here in the living room. I've got some friends coming over a little later, so don't be surprised when they come in. They have a key." I nodded, but was curious as to who was coming over that had a key.

"Which friends?" Aaron took in a deep breath then let it out very quickly.

He replied, "Just Paul and Jared. They're coming over for dinner. Sam will be coming over later tonight with a few others." For a brief moment, I thought back to what Seth said earlier about them being a gang, but I quickly rid the thoughts from my head. Aaron was smarter than that. I nodded slightly in reply and turned back to Hannah with a smile on my face.

"So, what movie do you want to watch?" She smiled back, and the two of us went over to the movie shelf.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

After we were done watching movies, Hannah and I changed back into normal clothes and went in with the boy's in the kitchen. Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry still weren't home, so dinner wasn't started. I looked to Hannah and the two of us had a quick silent conversation with our eyes about what we were to do.

When Jayden got ready to leave a little later, Hannah and I both pleaded with him to let her stay the night. We pulled every trick in the book, but it seamed that he just wouldn't budge on his decision.

"I don't feel comfortable with Hannah staying with people I barely know," he reasoned. When Hannah and I both attacked him with puppy dog eyes, he turned to Aaron for support. "Aaron, would you let Allie stay the night at someone's house if you just met them?" I knew what Aaron would say. He's wanted me to hang out with people besides family ever since the funeral.

Aaron didn't waste any time answering, "Yes. I would let her." Jayden's eyes widened.

"Why?" he asked slowly. Aaron sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair.

He replied, "I would let her because she hasn't spent any time with people other than family in almost two months, and I'm worried about her." Aaron smiled softly at me which I happily returned. "Besides, I trust her to make smart decisions when it comes to people." Jayden sighed and closed his eyes. He rubbed his temples with one hand and put the other in his pocket.

"Alright," he capitulated. "Hannah can stay, but only for one night. If she still wants to hang out with Allie tomorrow, they can get together later." Hannah and I both smiled in success. I was happy enough that I jumped up and gave Jayden an appreciation hug. He was surprised for a moment, but he hugged me back.

I smiled up at him and said, "Thanks. I'll keep her safe." Jayden's face was red, but he nodded in response. He smiled down at me.

"I know you will. There's a feeling about you that tells me when you say something, you mean it." I blushed at his compliment and looked away.

"Thanks," I whispered back. "That's real nice of you." Jayden smirked slightly. I took a step back from him after our hug was over. Hannah and I decided to go with him back to their house to get Hannah's things then come back. We asked Aaron if he wanted to go, but he said he was going to wait for Jared and Paul since they would be here soon.

"Are you sure?" Hannah asked somewhat sadly. "We've seen your house; it would be really awesome if you got to see ours." Aaron's eyes widened in a way that showed he was shocked. It appeared that he was sad because Hannah was sad. I made a mental note of this and was determined to investigate it further later.

"Do you really want me to come?" he asked slowly. "If you do, I will." Hannah's face lit up. She nodded rapidly.

She replied, "I'd love for you to come!" Aaron sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Alright," he surrendered. "I'll come." Hannah was so happy that Aaron changed his mind she ran up and hugged him in appreciation. As he hugged her back, Aaron smiled so wide I thought his face would crack. They let go of each other, and the four of us went and got into Jayden's car. Hannah and I sat in the back, Aaron got into the passenger seat, and Jayden, obviously, drove.

"So," I started out, determined not to let silence befall our short journey. "How old are you Jayden?" He looked back at me in the rearview mirror and smiled.

"Sixteen," he replied. "I turn seventeen next week." I nodded slightly.

"How long have you and Hannah lived here?" Jayden thought for a moment.

He answered, "We've lived in Washington about five years. We originally lived in Forks when we first came here with our mother, but after she died last year, I bought a house on the reservation and we moved where we do now. The authorities were weary about me supporting both Hannah and myself when I was only fifteen, but I switched to homeschooling, got a job, and we're making it along just fine." Another question popped into my mind.

"Why didn't you guys just stay in Forks?" Jayden's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"The house legally belonged to Hannah's dad," he growled. "And when our mom died, he decided he wanted to take the house for himself and wouldn't let us stay there anymore. That dammed son of a…"

"Jayden!" Hannah exclaimed. "Language!" Jayden sighed and calmed down.

"Sorry sis," he replied. "I just hate talking about him." Hannah nodded in agreement.

"I do too, but that doesn't mean you see me walking around cussing him out. Have some pride in yourself." The two boys chuckled at Hannah's behavior. Not a moment later, Jayden pulled into a large driveway. It was painted a light brown and had one story. Although the house wasn't too terribly large, it looked like it would suit two people just fine. Hannah jumped out of the car and pulled me with her. I laughed as she dragged me up to the front door. We would have gone ahead and went inside, but we had to wait on Jayden who had the keys.

"Hold your horses," he said waking past us to open the door. "Running won't get you inside any quicker." When Jayden opened the door and let us inside, Hannah took me down the hall to her room. I have to say I was surprised to see that when Hannah said earlier my room looked like hers, she wasn't kidding. While my room was lavender colored, her room was a deeper purple color with a blue bed right in the middle. She had a desk under her window, a dresser next to her door, and small chair for reading under a lamp with another little table next to it. I smiled and looked around.

"Well, I suppose you were right when you said our rooms were similar." Hannah smiled and nodded.

She replied, "Yeah. Purple has always been my favorite color. Though, that lavender color of your room has really got me double guessing myself." I chuckled.

"I'll give it to you. I've never really been a huge fan of purple, any shade. I've always really preferred my blues and greens. The room was like that when I got here yesterday, so I haven't had too much time to redecorate." Hannah raised an eyebrow.

"You only got here yesterday?" she asked. I nodded.

"We got here around mid day yesterday, why?" Hannah shrugged.

"Nothing, I just would have thought you'd been here longer and all by the way you were acting and everything. You just seamed like you've been here before." I smiled at how awkward Hannah was.

"It's alright," I replied. "I have been here before, when I was littler. Me and Aaron used to come up here with our parents on vacations to spend time with Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry. I remember a lot from then." Hannah began packing her things while I sat on her bed. After about five minutes went by, Jayden appeared at her door. He looked much more nervous than he had before.

He stuttered, "Hey… C-can I talk to y-you for a minute Allie?" I scrunched my eyes together in confusion.

"Sure," I replied slowly. I looked over to Hannah, "I'll be right back." She nodded and went back to packing. I followed Jayden down the hall until we were out of ear shot of Hannah. "Watcha need?" I asked. Jayden suddenly became very interested with the wall beside us as he bean to talk.

"Well," he started. "I was just hoping… wondering… if you maybe wanted to get together some time later… just the two of us… and do something." I raised an eyebrow.

"Are you asking if I want to go on a date with you?" Jayden's face reddened significantly.

He swallowed and replied, "Well, yes… unless you'd rather not… I'd understand." I chuckled lightly and put my hands on my hips.

"Well now Mr. Person I Barely Know, how do I know I can trust you? I don't even know your last name?" Jayden's eyes widened ten fold.

"Adkins," he said quickly. "My last name is Adkins." I chuckled again at his nervousness.

"Alright Jayden Adkins, I guess I'll accept your offer." I grabbed onto Jayden's hand and pulled out my emergency pen. I quickly wrote down the home phone number on his hand since I didn't know my new cell phone number yet. I smiled up at him and said, "Call me when you've worked out the when and where. I'll be waiting for your call." I gave Jayden a quick wink before walking back to Hannah's room.

When I got back, she asked, "So what did he want?" I smiled at her and fell back onto her bed.

"Well, Hannah, your older brother asked me on a date." Her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"What did you say? Did he say when? Where are you going? Do you like him like that? You two don't even know each other well. Are you going to find out about each other before, after, or during?" I chuckled as she started the swarm of questions.

"Slow down. I said yes. He'll call me about the when and where later. I kind of like him, but like you said we don't know each other well yet. I'm hoping we can find out about each other during." Hannah smiled and jumped onto the bed next to me.

She exclaimed, "So, I guess now there's a real chance of you becoming my sister right?" I chuckled and laid down on the bed closing my eyes.

"Hopefully I won't get close to anything like that for a while, but I guess to answer you, yes. There's a chance I could become your real sister." Hannah squealed in excitement and fell back next to me. The two of us stayed there for a while before she suddenly realized something.

She asked, "Does Aaron know yet?" I opened my eyes up. I looked over to her.

"Not yet." She smiled slightly.

"How do you think he will take it?" I sighed and looked back strait up. How _did_ I think he'd take it?

I looked back to her and simply replied, "Not well."

"You guys ready?" Aaron asked poking his head into the room. I jumped up off the bed.

"Yep," Hannah replied. She started to pick up her suitcase, but Aaron was there in an instant to get it for her. She was surprised at first, but she smiled. "Thanks."

Aaron smiled back, "Anything for you." I raised an eyebrow at the interaction between them. Another note to talk to Aaron about later.

"Let's go," I said interrupting the moment. Hannah blushed and looked away, but Aaron simply smiled.

We walked out to Jayden's car where he was waiting. He smiled at me which I returned. Aaron noticed this and glanced between us for a moment. I took in a breath hoping he wouldn't ask about it. Hannah noticed this and quickly stole Aaron's attention away from the situation.

"Hey Aaron, can you bring my bag around to the trunk? It's already unlocked." Aaron looked back to Hannah and almost instantaneously his face merged into a smile.

"Sure," he replied. As Hannah walked by, I shot her a look of gratitude. She smiled back. Once we were all loaded into Jayden's car, we started back towards our house. When we pulled into our drive, there were two guys on our front porch. One I recognized as Paul, but the other I'd never seen before. Aaron quickly grew concerned. As soon as the car was stopped, he was out and to the guys. Hannah and I looked to each other in question but said nothing. I mouthed that I'd asked later. She nodded and the two of us got out of the car. I smiled up at Jayden who got out to say goodbye.

"You sure you and Hannah are going to be alright?" he asked worriedly. I chuckled lightly which only resulted in him becoming more concerned.

I smiled up at him and assured, "We'll be fine. I don't know how Hannah puts up with you." He smirked.

"One day at a time." He pulled me into a surprise hug, but after a moment, I returned it. After a few seconds, we let go. Hannah was smirking over at us from the other side of the car. I blushed and looked away as did Jayden.

"Well," I said slowly. "I'll talk to you later then." He smiled and nodded.

"Definitely. I'll call you." I smiled back.

I replied, "You better, or else…" I looked over to where Aaron was to make sure he was preoccupied. I looked back at Jayden and whispered, "I'll make sure I find your darkest secret." Jayden raised an eyebrow.

"How is that a threat?" he asked while laughing. I smirked evilly causing him to pale slightly.

I replied, "Do you really want to push it?" He gulped slightly.

"No ma'm," he answered. After a few seconds, I started laughing. Jayden visibly relaxed. He sighed and pushed me playfully. "Don't do that," he said softly. "You really freaked me out." I shrugged and smiled.

"It's a gift." Hannah got her bag out of the trunk and walked up to the two of us. She smiled as she looked between us.

"Getting along?" she asked. Jayden nodded and put an arm over my shoulders.

"Yep," he replied, popping the p. "We're all buddy-buddy now." I rolled my eyes and gently took his arm off me.

When he gave me a questioning look, I simply replied, "Don't push it." We locked eyes for a moment before we both began to laugh. Hannah was confused, but the two of us didn't bother to explain. When she looked to me, I smiled. "I'll explain later," I assured.

"Ah," she replied. "Alrighty then." Just then, Aaron walked over with a distressed look on his face. I looked up at him concerning.

"You alright?" I asked softly. He looked at me, then Hannah, then Jayden, then back to me.

"Yeah," he replied nodding his head as well. "I'm fine. Let's just get inside." He picked up Hannah's bag and walked ahead of us. I exchanged a look with Hannah before shrugging. I gave one last goodbye to Jayden before following Aaron. I smiled at Paul as we passed him on the porch.

"Hey Pauly," I said giving him a hug. The other guy looked in shock as Paul hugged me back and smiled down at me. "How are you?" He shrugged.

"Alright I guess. How's my little Alliekens?" I rolled my eyes.

"I'm just fine. Why didn't you just go inside? Aaron said you had a key." Paul rolled his eyes in annoyance.

He replied, "Sam has the key. We thought that Aaron would be here, or anyone would be here, when in fact, no one was." I gasped.

"You weren't here long were you?" I asked worriedly. Paul shook his head.

"Not too long," he replied. "Only about fifteen minutes, but we can manage to entertain ourselves pretty well." I sighed in relief.

"That's good. I would have felt terrible if you had been sitting out here forever." Paul laughed lightly.

"We weren't though, so you don't have to worry." He looked in the direction that Jayden had been. "By the way, who was that guy you were talking to?" I looked in the direction he was looking to see Jayden's car driving away. I turned back to him.

"Jayden," I replied. "Remember, you met him earlier? Hannah's brother?" Sudden realization washed over his face. I chuckled lightly. "Why do you ask?" Paul looked aside and rubbed his head.

"Ah you know, just wondering." I raised an eyebrow at him and put my hands on my hips.

"Paul what-ever-your-last-name-is, are you lying to me?" Paul laughed lightly.

He replied, "Last name is Long, and no, I'm not lying to you. I really was just wondering." I gave him a sideways glance.

"Alright. I believe you." Before he could say anything else, I held my finger strait in between his eyes. "But only this once. Next time, tell me the _entire _truth. Not just part of it." Paul smiled lightly and nodded.

"Yes ma'm Ms. Allie Syst. I promise you I will tell you the entire truth next time." I narrowed my eyes playfully, but added a smile to it as well. I gave him another hug.

"I'll see you later then?" I asked Paul, hoping he'd say yes. He smiled and ruffled my hair.

He replied, "Definitely." He looked back to the guy he was with and then turned back to me. "By the way, this is Jared. He was in our class earlier, but you didn't get a chance to meet him." I smiled at Jared and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you Jared," I said sweetly. I turned to Hannah who was standing behind me watching silently. "This is Hannah," I introduced to the boys. "She's the girl Aaron was talking about earlier if you don't remember her either." Paul smirked.

"I remember her," he replied. "And Jared's heard of her." I scrunched my eyes together.

"How could he have heard of her? Both Aaron and I just met her today." Paul and Jared both exchanged looks of fright like they'd revealed something they shouldn't have.

"I told Jared about her," Aaron said from his new position in the door way. He was leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. "Over the phone while you two were watching the movie. That's how he heard of her." I nodded slightly and looked between the three boys.

I shrugged and replied, "Whatever. Come on Hannah. Let's go up to my room." She nodded and ran inside ahead of me. I paused at the edge of the stairs where they couldn't see me, but I was able to hear what they were saying.

"You need to be more careful," Aaron exclaimed quietly. "You almost let it slip." Paul sighed.

"Sorry," he replied. "I didn't think she'd think much of it." Aaron sighed.

"She catches onto everything," he said slowly. "It's been so troublesome trying to keep it hidden for the past seven years." A new voice entered into the picture, and I assumed it was Jared since he was the only extra one out there.

"Did you… you know…," he asked softly.

"No," came Paul's reply. "I didn't. I just really like her. There's something different about her that I just can't explain." Aaron sighed once more.

"If you hurt her," he warned. "I'll kill you." Paul chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. I'll probably kill myself." The three chuckled lightly and let it slowly die out. "If I do find her one day though," he added slowly. "I'll still be friends with Allie. She's a cool person." I could picture Aaron smiling at this.

"I know," he replied. "But a friend and boyfriend are two different things. Don't think I didn't see you getting jealous about how she was acting with Jayden."

"I just didn't like the way he held her," Paul said angrily. "It's like he thought he had more right to touch her than anyone else." Aaron and Jared both sighed at Paul's reaction.

"Just let it be," Aaron advised. "If you do end up finding the girl, you'd want Allie to have someone that would treat her right. They are going to be going to some fancy restaurant Friday. I overheard Jayden talking on the phone. If you want to check him out to make sure he's an okay guy, do it then. Once you know he's alright, leave them alone." Paul sighed.

"I'll try, but I don't know if I can help it. Even though she's not _her _I still feel like she could be. It's not as strong a connection, but the connection is still there. Do you understand at all?" he asked. Aaron chuckled slightly and patted him on the back hard enough for me to hear the slap from my hiding place.

He replied, "In a way, my friend, I think you may have found 'the love of your life number two.'" The three chuckled once more.

"I suppose you're right. Let's go ahead and get out of the doorway. I'm freezing." The three chuckled as though at an inside joke before walking inside and closing the door. I quickly rushed upstairs and into my room. Hannah wasn't there, but her suit case was. I assumed she probably went to the bathroom. I opened my drawer and pulled out my journal and a pencil.

I sat down on my bed, turned to a blank page and began to write down a few key points of the day I wanted to be sure to remember:

November 23

Today I've learned a few things today I want to make sure and remember at a later date.

**1.** Aaron is keeping a secret from me

**2.** It involves Hannah Adkins

**3. **Aaron is possibly apart of a gang that Sam is in charge of. Seth told me about it.

**4.** Hannah says she feels a connection to Aaron, it's obvious, but I'm unsure as to what the connection is

**5.** There was a strange conversation between Aaron, Paul, and Jared. I've quoted some of it bellow:

Jared: "Did you… you know…"

Paul: "No, I didn't. I just really like her. There's something different about her I just can't explain."

Aaron: "If you hurt her, I'll kill you."

Paul: "Yeah, I know. I'll probably kill myself. If I do find her one day though, I'll still be friends with Allie. She's a cool person."

Aaron: "I know, but a friend and boyfriend are two different things. Don't think I didn't see you getting jealous about how she was acting with Jayden."

Paul: "I just didn't like the way he held her. It's like he thought he had more right to touch her than anyone else."

Aaron: "Just let it be. If you do end up finding the girl, you'd want Allie to have someone that would treat her right. They are going to be going to a fancy restaurant Friday. I overheard Jayden talking on the phone. If you want to check him out to make sure he's an okay guy, do it then. Once you know he's alright, leave them alone."

Paul: "I'll try, but I don't know if I can help it. Even though she's not her I still feel like she could be. It's not as strong a connection, but the connection is still there. Do you understand at all?"

Aaron: "In a way, my friend, I think you may have found 'the love of your life number two.'"

I don't know exactly what the conversation is about, but I do know it had something to do with me, and another girl, but what is weird, is I don't think that they know who the other girl is yet. I underlined the parts above that mention this other girl. Also, a connection was again mentioned, but instead of being between Aaron and Hannah, it was mentioned in reference to Paul and I. I went ahead and underlined where the connection was mentioned. When Jared asked Paul about something at the beginning, he didn't out and say what they were talking about, but I'm determined to find out what he meant. Maybe I can corner him later. The beginning part of their conversation was also of interest. Here's the part before that above part:

Aaron: "You need to be more careful, you almost let it slip."

Paul: "Sorry, I didn't think she'd think much of it."

Aaron: "She catches onto everything. It's been so troublesome trying to keep it hidden for the past seven years."

I've got a feeling that whatever this 'it' they are referring to is the same secret that Aaron is trying to keep from me. I also have a feeling that the secret is somehow connected to why Aaron has been spending time with Sam Uley. I understand that Aaron knew him when we used to come down here, but I've known Aaron all my life, and he would never spend time with Sam after what he did to Leah.

That's another thing that's been bothering me. Leah is still hanging around Sam even after he dumped her for her cousin. In my book, that should end all connection between them, but apparently it didn't. She said she'd explain it to me later, but I wonder if this secret she's keeping and Aaron's secret are connected.

I guess the only way I can find out, is to do one of two things. 1: Confront Aaron about it himself, or 2: do some more digging and investigating. I'll go with plan two for now, because I've got a feeling that the more digging I do, the more truth will be revealed…

Just then, Hannah opened my door. I put the journal under my pillow on the bed so that she wouldn't notice it. It's not that I want to keep my new thoughts to myself; I just want to wait until a little later to talk to her. Later when I know for a fact, no one is listening. I smile back at her when she smiles at me.

"Watcha doing?" she asked casually, sitting down on my bed. I shrugged.

"Not much. What do you want to do until later?" She shrugged as well. Aaron suddenly appeared in my doorway.

"Hey girls," he said softly. He looked to be thinking about something deeply. "I have to go for a few minutes. I'll be back in, hopefully, about two hours. Do you think you'll be alright? I could call someone over…" I shook my head.

"We'll be fine," I replied. "We can find something to do until you get back." Since Aaron was going to be gone, this was a perfect chance to talk to Hannah and see if she knew anything. Aaron didn't reply to me, he simply turned and walked downstairs. I jumped up and Hannah and I followed him down. When we got downstairs, Jared and Paul were standing in the middle of the living room. I looked at them then back to Aaron.

Aaron turned back to us and smiled softly while saying, "The three of us just have to run a few errands. Call me if you need me. If no one is back before dark, call me so I can send someone over. I don't want you two here alone at dark. The neighbors are home if you need someone." Aaron sighed and embraced me in a hug. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" he asked me softly. I smiled and hugged him back.

"I'll be fine," I replied. I pushed him away and smiled up at him reassuringly. "Go do whatever it is you need to do. We'll be here waiting when you get back." Aaron smiled sadly at me one last time before turning to Hannah. He gave her a hug as well which surprised both of us.

He whispered in her ear, "Will you be alright?" Hannah blushed slightly but nodded.

"Yes," she replied. "I'll be fine. Besides, Allie is here with me. We'll take care of each other." Aaron smiled down at her for a long while before letting her go. It seamed almost painful for him to let go of her. I watched as the three of them left the house and drove down the street in Aaron's car. Once they were completely out of sight, I spun around to Hannah.

"I'm going to need your help." Hannah raised her eyebrows.

"With…" I sighed and grabbed her hand. I pulled her upstairs to my room and pulled out my journal. I opened up to the entry I just wrote.

"Aaron's hiding something. They all are. I don't know if Jayden knows, but I know for a fact that Leah, Aaron, Paul, and Jared know about it. It involves you and me, but I don't know how yet. I don't know what the secret is, but I have a feeling it's all connected, and I need your help to find it out." Hannah read over my entry then looked to me.

"You know," she started slowly. "This sounds all a little compulsive… What would Aaron be hiding from you?" I shrugged.

"I don't know. Seth, my cousin, told me earlier that Sam Uley had created a gang, of sorts, and that Paul and Jared were apart of it. Well, recently, Leah started hanging out with them as well even though Sam had been her fiancé but broke it off so he could be with her cousin Emily. Now, as soon as we move here, Aaron is hanging out with them as well, doing odd jobs for Sam that he won't tell me about, and randomly disappearing in the middle of the day. Also, just now when they had to leave, Aaron was acting really distant like there was something on his mind bothering him. Whatever they are keeping hidden, it's something big, and I need to find out what it is. Will you help me?" Hannah sighed.

"Well, I agree that they are hiding something, but are you sure it's something bad?" I shook my head.

I replied, "I don't think it's something bad really, but I don't know for sure." Hannah nodded slightly. She thought over things for a moment before sighing and turning back to me.

"Okay," she finally agreed. "I'll help you out. You've got me interested in what they are keeping from us. What do we do?" I smiled at her eagerness.

"The question you should ask is what you do. We'll be doing separate things in order to gather the most information in the least amount of time. Come with me." We raced upstairs into my bedroom. I pulled out a big black box out from underneath my bed.

"What's that?" Hannah asked kneeling down beside me. I smiled over at her before looking back at the box.

"This," I replied unlatching the lid. "Is my secret. I've known for a while that something was up with Aaron, so I convinced my mom one day to let me go shopping with her credit card. I told her I was going to buy me some things as a reward for my middle school graduation, which was true, to an extent. I did buy it as a reward for me, but I also bought it so that I could have a way to find out Aaron's secret when I had the chance. I almost left it at home when I came. I'm glad I didn't." I popped open the lid and smiled as Hannah gasped at the sight of it.

On the inside of the lid there were four small screens all showing different parts of the house. In the bigger part of the inside, there was one normal size video camera, one that was shaped like a flower broach, and one that was in the middle of a pair of sunglasses. There were three recording devices, and a whole bunch more of small hide-able cameras. There was a remote that controlled what the screens were showing, and there were two more small normal cameras used for taking pictures. There also was a small machine thing that could be used to print out the pictures taken.

"Where'd you get all this stuff?" Hannah asked in aw. I chuckled and pulled out the broach camera.

I replied, "I had a friend down in Galveston that her dad was an ex-member of the FBI, and had given her a bunch of spy equipment when she was younger because she was really into stuff like that. When I realized that Aaron was hiding something from me, it was about the same time that she grew out of that phase, so I asked if she could give me some stuff. She said sure and just gave it to me without wanting payment, but because I couldn't take it without payment, I took her into town and bought her something with my mom's credit card. When my mom asked what I bought, I told her I bought a fake spy kit because I thought it was neat. I had made sure that I bought something close to the same price of one of the fake spy kits in the store so when she saw the charge later, she wouldn't be suspicious." Hannah laughed.

"You sure did a lot to find this out," she said in reply. I smiled and laughed as well.

"Yeah, well I wanted to make sure I'd have everything I'd need. Here…" I pinned the broach camera on her shirt. "If anyone asks, tell them I gave it to you." I grabbed the remote and pressed a button which changed the four screens into one that showed a picture of my shirt. I wiggled the broach around until it was at a slight angle so that it would always be focused upward since Hannah was shorter than all the people we'd be around. "Behind the broach, where it attaches to your shirt, there are two buttons, a blue and a red one. The blue one starts recording and the red one stops recording. Only record if you think it's beneficial. Anything you look at with the broach will show on the screen, but only the things you record will we be able to look at later." I pulled out the sunglasses and put them on. I smiled at her.

"Are you sure it will work?" she asked hesitantly. I nodded.

"Yep," I replied. "Just make sure you put it on each morning. The camera has unlimited video because it will always come strait to the computer here, so don't worry about that. Here's a voice recorder. If you are in a situation you can't video, like if you are swimming or you just don't have it, this only has one button that turns it on and off, and it's waterproof and is put in your ear like a hearing aid. Push it once and you'll hear a beep in your ear signaling you started recording. You push it again and hear two beeps signaling you stopped. This only hears what you record. If you record something you wish you didn't, we can delete it later from here. Okay?" Hannah nodded and put the recorder into her ear.

"Will it stay in?" I thought for a moment.

"It should… but if you accidently lose it, we can track it using the automatic tracking agency. Just… try not to lose it." Hannah chuckled.

"I'll try. What else?" I sighed and pulled out a smaller box from under my bed. I opened it up and pulled out a small device.

"I'm going to bug Aaron." Hannah raised an eyebrow.

She replied, "Okay but wouldn't that just make him go away? I can't picture him just sitting there while you annoy him." I sighed and shook my head.

"No Hannah, not bug like annoy. I'm going to put a bug on him. This way we can hear what he says even when we're not around him." Hannah shook her head in understanding.

"I get it. Where will you put it that he won't notice?" I smiled.

I replied, "I'm going to put the hearing device in his food. It's got a special thing on it that will stick to his teeth without him noticing. That way we can hear everything. I'm also going to place a small video on the button of all of his shorts." Hannah raised her eyebrow yet again.

"I know I'm probably going to regret asking, but why?"

I chuckled and replied, "Most of the time, Aaron will go around in nothing but cut off shorts. I don't know why, but he does. This way, if the camera is on his pants, he'll always have it with him. It's waterproof, so it doesn't matter if it gets washed." Hannah chuckled.

"You've just thought of everything haven't you?" I chuckled and shrugged.

"I guess. Now grab the little box and let's get to Aaron's room." Hannah picked it up and followed me next door to Aaron's room. We stood outside for a moment while I determined how to make 100% sure Aaron wouldn't notice I'd been in his room. I quickly turned to Hannah and said, "If Aaron asks later if we went into his room, the answer is yes. I was looking for the movie Titanic. He's got it in his room. I know it." Hannah nodded in reply. I turned back and slowly opened up the door. Aaron's room was surprisingly clean, though I suppose it's only because we've been here only a day. Hannah and I moved over to his still unpacked suit case. I opened it up and saw all of his shorts neatly folded in one pile. If I remember correctly, he should only have six of them not including the one he's wearing. I pulled out the first pair and looked to Hannah.

"First camera." She nodded and opened up the black box. Carefully, she picked up one of the barely noticeable cameras and handed it to me. I carefully placed the camera on the center piece of the button in the middle of the pants. I folded it back and set it aside. I did the same with the other five pairs of shorts and sighed in relief. They were all here. I moved a few other things around and pulled out the movie Titanic that was located behind one of his shirts. I put the pants back into the suitcase and zipped it back up.

I smiled at Hannah and exclaimed, "Alright, now let's go watch the movie so when Aaron get's back, our story is true." Hannah nodded and the two of us ran downstairs to the living room.

Aaron didn't come back when he said he would. In fact, no one came back. Aaron called me about an hour until nightfall and told us he wouldn't be coming back that night. He said he'd be sending Paul over to make sure we would be alright. I tried to call Aunt Sue with the number she had left on the fridge in case I needed her, but she didn't answer. I groaned in frustration and fell back onto the couch. Hannah sat down next to me.

"Maybe something happened," she offered. "Something with one of the people that live around here." I shrugged.

"I don't know which bugs me." I sat forward. "What if something is wrong with Aaron?" Hannah's eyes widened in fear.

She asked, "You don't really think he could be hurt do you?" I shrugged and sat back against the soft cushion of the couch. There was a knock on the door, but I didn't move.

"Come in," I yelled out. "Door's open." Hannah looked back at the person who entered the house and quickly informed me it was Paul. I scooted forward to sit on the edge of the couch as Paul took a seat on the other couch.

"So," I started slowly, eyeing Paul as he nervously shifted around. "What's going on?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hannah fidget with something on her shirt nervously. She then played with some hair around her ear ever so causally. Must be the camera and recorder since she then stopped fidgeting with anything besides her hands.

He slowly replied, "Nothing you need to worry about." I narrowed my eyes.

"Paul," I said slowly. "What is wrong? Someone got hurt didn't they?" Paul sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Not… necessarily. It's nothing bad. I promise." I glared at Paul making him look away.

"You promised earlier you would tell me the entire truth. Why are you breaking that promise now?" Paul's eyes widened and he started stuttering trying to think of an excuse. I smirked.

"It's not like that," he quickly informed. "I'm telling you the entire truth. Nothing bad happened. Everyone is alright. Aaron just has some work he has to do that's taking a little longer than he thought. Okay?" Paul and eye stared eye to eye for the longest time. Eventually, I sighed in defeat.

"Alright," I caved. "I believe you. Where is Aaron? And where is Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry? I can't get a hold of either of them." Paul shrugged.

"I don't know where Aaron is, but I know that Sue and Harry are with them. Leah and Seth are with them too." I was quickly becoming confused. What could they be doing that everyone was needed for… but me?

"Do you know what they are doing?" I asked. Paul closed his eyes and sighed.

He replied, "I can't lie to you." I raised an eyebrow.

"Then tell me the truth." He sighed again.

"I can't." I narrowed my eyes as did Hannah. She found everything fishy too.

She decided to ask, "Why can't you?" Paul looked at Hannah before looking back to me. He sighed for a third time in two minutes.

"I just can't. You have to trust me. Please?" I looked to Hannah who was watching me with a confused look. I didn't understand what exactly was going on, but I needed to find out.

I decided just to drop the subject for now and said, "Alright. I trust you." Paul visibly relaxed. I turned to Hannah. "Are you tired?" She thought for a moment then nodded. I turned to Paul one last time. "We're going to go ahead and go to sleep since it's late. There's food in the kitchen and the remote is next to the television. See ya in the morning if you are still here." Paul nodded and watched us as we left to go upstairs. Hannah and I did just as I said we would. We went to bed. Whatever this big secret that everyone else was involved in wouldn't be a secret for long. I would find it out.

Hannah was still asleep when I woke up. I looked over to the clock and read 7:36. Slowly as not to wake Hannah, I crawled out of bed. When I finally got out of the room successfully, I looked in each of the bedrooms. Leah's was still untouched. Seth's was just as messy as it had been before. Aaron's was like it was yesterday, but it looked like someone had been in there. I glanced in Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry's room as I walked towards the stairs, but their room was empty as well. No one came home last night.

I reached the bottom of the stairs as quietly as I could in case someone was asleep on the couch. No one was there. I heard something move in the kitchen, so I ventured closer. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Paul and Aaron sitting with their backs to me talking. I decided to listen in for a little bit before announcing my presence. I quickly pushed the record button in my ear to listen in.

"There are so many new ones," Aaron said in a frustrated tone. "I don't know how we'll keep up with them all." Paul shrugged.

He replied, "Well there aren't too many. True in the past we've only had three or four at the most, but the more the merrier." Aaron groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Sam asked me to be second," he mumbled. Paul sat up straighter.

"That's good isn't it?"

Aaron sighed and replied, "Maybe. I've only been here for a few days while everyone else has lived here most of their lives. Do you think they'll accept me?"

"If you're second, they'll have to. Who all is there now? I didn't get a chance to find out last night because I was busy watching over your girls for you." Aaron rolled his eyes and pushed Paul.

He replied, "In addition to you, me, Sam and Jared, there's Leah, which is odd, Seth, Jacob, Quil, and Embry." When Aaron said the name Embry, my heart sped up slightly. I scrunched my eyes together and continued to listen to what they were saying.

"Not too bad," Paul said in reply. "That's only nine." Aaron sighed and put his head in his hands once more.

"I think I'll decline. Sam offered the lead to Jacob, but he declined. I think it'd be best if Jacob was second instead of me. At least then it will be someone everyone knows." Paul patted Aaron on the back.

"You'll be fine. So when are you going to tell her?" Aaron shrugged.

"I was thinking maybe after the bonfire Friday. Allie will be gone so I don't have to worry about that, and I don't have to worry about her brother wigging out on me taking her somewhere. Since they live just the two of them alone, I can say I was offering her something to do until he gets back." Paul nodded. I realized that Aaron was probably talking about Hannah.

"Will you tell her everything?" Paul asked. Aaron shook his head.

"No," he replied. "I want to see how she'll react first. The other stuff can wait until later." After they started talking about other things like the football game this afternoon, I turned off the recorder, walked backwards towards the stairs a little bit and rubbed my eyes like I'd just got up.

"Hello?" I called out groggily. Aaron and Paul got up and came into the living room. Aaron smiled when he caught sight of me.

"Good morning. How are you?" I shrugged and sat down on the couch.

"Alright I suppose. Why didn't you come home last night?" Aaron paused for a second, but his smile never faltered.

He replied, "Seth and Leah got real sick. Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry took them up to the doctor in Seattle for the rest of this week and next week. I don't know what they have, but they told me to come back early to make sure you were alright. We're not aloud to go up and see them because of their condition, so don't ask. You can call and talk to them later though." My eyes widened in surprise.

"How'd they get sick?" I asked, fully awake. Aaron sat down on the couch across from me while Paul sat down next to me.

He replied, "I'm not real sure. I think maybe they ate something weird or something. Hopefully the doctors can tell us more later. How was your night? You and Hannah sleep well?" I nodded and smiled.

"Yeah. We went and got Titanic out from your bag so we could watch it. Don't be surprised if you find your bag a little moved around." Aaron chuckled lightly.

"It's alright. I don't mind as long as you don't take anything else or mess with anything." I smiled.

I replied, "Wouldn't dream of it." The phone started ringing from the kitchen. Aaron jumped up and went to answer it. Paul smirked down at me and leaned back against the couch.

"So," he started out. "What did you hear this morning?" I raised an eyebrow.

"When? What?" Paul smiled.

He replied, "I know you were eavesdropping this morning while Aaron and I were in the kitchen. I heard you when you were walking back to the stairs. What did you hear?" I sighed, annoyed I'd been found out. I quickly thought over the last few things they said after the important stuff they said was done.

"I just heard you guys talking about the football game today. Nothing more." Paul looked at me skeptically but believed my story. Aaron poked his through the kitchen door and smiled at me.

"Phone for you Allie," he called out. I stood up and walked over to him. I took the phone and put it against my ear.

"Hello?" I asked slowly.

"Hey," Jayden's voice filled the receiver. I smiled to myself.

"Hey Jayden, how are you?"

"Alright," he replied. "You?"

"I'm good. You calling because you worked everything out?" Jayden laughed lightly.

"You get strait to the point. Yes I'm calling because of that. Are you doing anything Friday?" I looked through the door at Aaron and Paul who were taking quietly to each other. I thought about how Aaron had mentioned a bonfire Friday, the same night Jayden wanted to have our date. I took in a deep breath and made a quick decision.

"Nope," I replied. "Nothing planned for Friday. What did you have in mind?" Jayden relayed the information about the date to me and I made mental notes about it.

"Alright," I said when he was done. "We have dinner reservations for _Bueno Achy_ at 8:30. Dress formally. How are we going to get together? Are you going to come get me or…" Aaron stepped into the kitchen.

"I'll take you," he offered. I looked to him with a questioning face. He shrugged and explained, "There's a bonfire I'm going to Friday, and I thought since you'll be out Friday, Hannah might want to come so she wouldn't be alone." What he said fit with what he said earlier. I smiled like I was excited about the solution. I relayed the information to Jayden.

"Sounds like a good idea," he replied to Aaron's suggestion. "That way Hannah won't be by herself at home for an hour or more. So, can you get here about… 7:45? It takes a little bit to get to Port Angeles." I smiled to myself.

"7:45 will be fine. See you then." I didn't wait for a reply. I hung up the phone and looked to Aaron skeptically. After a while, he chuckled and asked why I was staring at him.

"When where you going to tell me about this bonfire?" I asked angrily. "I would have liked to go." Aaron sighed and rubbed his head.

He replied, "I honestly thought you wouldn't want to go. I wouldn't be taking Hannah if I didn't think she would be bored out of her mind Friday by herself. We usually have one every few weeks. Next time I'll be sure to take you. Alright?" I watched him for any sign of lying. I knew he was lying, but man he's a good liar. If I didn't already know the truth, I wouldn't suspect anything.

"Alright," I replied. Before he could sigh in relief I pointed up at him and added, "But next time I expect to be taken." Aaron chuckled and nodded.

"Deal." I told Hannah about the bonfire later when Aaron and Paul had to leave yet again for unknown reasons. She narrowed her eyes.

"What would he be needing to tell me?" I shrugged.

I replied, "I don't know, but it's got to be connected." Hannah nodded rapidly.

"I agree with you there. I'm not going to wear the recording thing so that Aaron doesn't suspect anything, but I'll make sure to remember everything he says to me. I'll relay anything important. After watching everything and listening to that recording you took this morning, I want to find out this secret just as bad as you do." I smiled and gave Hannah a hug. When we pulled away, Hannah smirked evilly.

"So," she drew out slowly. "Are you excited about your date with Jayden?" I blushed and looked aside.

"Yes," I mumbled softly. For the next hour, we talking non-stop about boys, clothes, and what I was going to wear Friday. I smiled at how we could be serious then be on a lighter subject like this instantly. Hannah was quickly becoming my best friend.

Friday came quickly. When I was completely done getting ready for my date, I went downstairs at 7:00 where Aaron was waiting for me. Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry still hadn't come back, so it was kind of like the entire house was just for Aaron and I these past three days. He smiled when he saw me.

"You look beautiful," he complimented, gently kissing my hand.

I had decided to wear my blue dress since Jayden said to dress formally. The dress came down just to the top of my feet which were wrapped tightly in black heels. There was a slit on the left side that came up just above my knee to show my bare perfectly tan leg. It was strapless with a fitted top. It showed a little cleavage, but not much. I had a black Shawl that was thin but covered my shoulders. I left my hair down and curled it slightly. I only applied a little dark blue eye shadow, mascara, and clear lip gloss. I blushed at Aaron's compliment.

I replied, "You're too kind." Aaron chuckled and led me to the door.

"We need to leave a little early. I have to pick up a few other people besides Hannah for the bonfire tonight before I drop you off. You don't mind do you?" I smiled and shook my head.

"Nope," I replied grabbing my handbag off the table and checking to make sure I had everything in it. "Let's go." Aaron smiled and, being the gentleman he was, even opened up the passenger door for me to get inside. I chuckled at his actions but didn't say anything in objection. I didn't mind being waited on every now and then.

We drove for about fifteen minutes before pulling into the driveway of a house I didn't recognize. Aaron honked, and we waited for the person inside to come on out. I smiled when I saw Paul come outside dressed in the same thing Aaron was wearing: cut off jeans. He came out with three other guys. Paul's eyes widened when he saw me in the front seat. I got out and gave him a hug.

"Wow," he muttered. "You clean up nice." I rolled my eyes and playfully pushed him.

"Thanks," I replied softly, blushing. "My mom gave me this dress on my birthday last year. I can't believe it still fits."

Aaron chuckled and said, "It's because you didn't grow any since last year. Sorry sis, you are destined to be short forever." I rolled my eyes and looked back at him with a smile on my face.

"That's alright," I replied. "At least I'm normal sized." Aaron chuckled and sat back in the driver's seat. Paul turned slightly and motioned to the guys behind him.

"These three are Jacob, Quil and Embry. They needed a ride like me, so they came here to wait for Aaron." I smiled at each boy as Paul pointed to them. I didn't miss the fact they had the same names as some of the guys Aaron had mentioned earlier that week.

When I looked at the one Paul introduced as Embry, I felt my heart stop for a moment. For a moment, it felt like we were the only two people there. Embry was very handsome, much more so that Jayden or Paul. His dark hair was kept short but was still messy as it fell around him. He's very tall. A little taller than Aaron and Aaron is almost 6ft 2in. He's very thin, but not so thin that it's scary, and his muscles are very well shaped. As we stared in each others eyes, it felt like every thing that worried me just disappeared. I didn't have a worry in the world as long as I was looking into Embry's dark black eyes. The other's must have noticed the two of us staring at each other, for Paul put his hand on my shoulder and led me back to the truck.

"We better get going," he said in explanation when I looked up at him. "Wouldn't want you to be late for your date." He seamed to say the word date a little louder than the rest of the sentence, but I didn't notice too much. I nodded in reply.

"Yeah," I said softly. "Wouldn't want to be late." The three new guys piled into the back of Aaron's truck. I moved into the middle seat next to Aaron while Paul got the passenger seat sitting on the other side of me. I wasn't complaining because I could see Embry through the rear view mirror. He seamed to be upset about something, but I didn't know what.

"So," I started out after we started moving. "What were all your names again?" The one behind Aaron chuckled lightly.

"I'm Jacob Black," he replied. He pointed to Embry and said, "Embry Call." He pointed to the guy behind Paul. "Quil Ateara." I nodded as each boy was reintroduced. I turned myself around so I could be looking at the three guys. I smiled slightly at Embry. He looked shocked for a moment before returning the smile.

I introduced myself saying, "I'm Allie Syst. Aaron's little sister. So you guys are Aaron's friends?" Embry didn't say anything, he just watched me. Jacob eventually spoke up.

"Yeah," he answered my question. "We're Aaron's friends. How old are you Allie?"

"I turn sixteen two Sunday's from now."

Quil spoke for the first time saying, "That's the same age as all of us." I smiled at Quil briefly. I noticed that when I did this Embry frowned slightly until I looked back at him. Then he smiled again. I turned back around and we rode in silence until reaching Hannah and Jayden's house.

"What are we doing here?" Quil asked looking out the window. Aaron blushed slightly, but I didn't really notice.

He replied, "Two reasons. 1) Allie is getting dropped off for her date and 2) we're picking up another girl named Hannah." Paul slid out of the truck and let me out. I waved at everyone and smiled at Embry.

I looked to Aaron and asked, "Should I just call you when I need you to pick me up, or should I get Jayden to just drop me off at home?" Aaron shrugged.

"It'll probably be easier for him to just drop you off. I probably won't be home until close to 3:00 in the morning. You have your key right?" I nodded and waved my purse so he knew it was in there. I smiled at him.

"I'll send Hannah out." I knew he blushed a little more as I walked away. I was about to knock on the door when it suddenly swung open to reveal Jayden standing there. I was surprised at first, but I quickly recovered and smiled.

"Hey," I said. "How'd you know I was here?" Jayden smirked.

He replied, "I heard you drive up. You look amazing." I blushed and looked aside.

"Thanks," I replied softly. "You look good too." It was true. He was wearing every aspect of a suit except he didn't have a jacket to go with it. It looked real good on him, but I just couldn't put my heart into it after seeing Embry shirtless earlier. I mentally slapped myself for thinking about it.

Jayden let me inside. I went in and down to Hannah's room. She was lying on her bed looking up at the roof. She had on blue jeans and a zip-up hoodie. I smiled at the sight of her.

"Aaron's waiting outside for you," I said stepping into her room. She sat up and her eyes widened when she saw me.

"Wow," she mumbled, jumping up. "You look awesome." I smiled and did a little twirl. Jayden poked his head in and smiled at the two of us.

"Hey," he started. "I need to use the restroom real quick. I'll be out in ten. We can leave then okay?" I smiled at him and nodded.

"Alright." After he left, I turned back to Hannah. She smiled at me, but she slowly frowned. She walked over to her door, looked out for a moment then closed the door. I was confused as to what she was doing. She looked back to me with a concern filled face.

"I'll have to be quick," she started. "But you need to know this before hand." I slowly nodded even though I didn't understand that she was talking about. She took in a deep breath and breathed out quickly, "Jayden's in a gang, and not just some normal gang that teens at school get into. It's a real gang. They rob places; kill people, and all that sort of stuff." My eyes widened in shock. I'd never thought of Jayden that way. "It's only happened once, but you need to be aware of it. If Jayden and you are out, and other members of the gang approach him, he will let them rape you, beat you up, anything they want to do." This time I fell back into the chair that was behind me.

Hannah continued, "He wouldn't want to, but one of the rules of the gang is 'You're with us or against us.' That's one of the reasons we moved. Jayden was scared that the gang would find out about me and hurt me, and he didn't want that. He tried to get out, but once apart of the gang, always apart of the gang. I'm not saying anything will happen to you, but you need to be aware of the possibility. I didn't think about it when you first told me he asked you on a date. If I did, I would have told you then." I thought over everything Hannah just told me. Jayden would just let them hurt me? I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on with this date, but Jayden was so sweet. I smiled up at Hannah. She was probably just overreacting.

"Thanks for the warning, but I'll be alright. I've taken karate since I was little, so if anything happens, I'm sure I can get myself away." Hannah looked unsure, but nodded anyway. Jayden knocked on the door and poked his head in. He smiled at the two of us.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded and stood up.

I replied, "Yep, let's get going." Jayden walked ahead of Hannah and I. I linked my arm with her, and the two of us walked outside behind him. We paused on the porch. She looked at me worriedly.

She whispered, "Promise me you'll play it safe? Stay out in the open, try not to go anywhere alone?" I smiled softly at her and gave her a hug.

"I promise." She looked back out to where the guys were all waiting. She put something in my hand while giving a small smile to assure everyone we were just fine.

"Put it in your purse," she whispered. "You never know when you'll need it." I looked down to see a bottle of pepper spray in my hand. I thought it might be a little much, but I nodded and placed it in my purse anyway. We walked out to where the guys were waiting. Aaron had gotten out of his truck along with Paul, and the two were standing with Jayden.

"Keep her safe," I heard Aaron say to Jayden. I rolled my eyes and walked over to Jayden. I linked my arm with his and smiled up at Aaron.

"He will," I assured. "It's just dinner. I'll see you later, alright?" Aaron looked unsure. For a moment, it looked almost like he didn't want me to go anymore. Maybe he heard what Hannah told me? No. That was impossible. We were inside her room with the door shut. Even if he had been in the house, he wouldn't have heard anything. Right?

"Right," he replied sadly. He gave me a hug and held me tight. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Jacob and Quil talking quietly to a furious looking Embry. He was shaking from anger as the two guys tried to calm him down. I pulled away from Aaron and smiled up at him. He still looked worried. I held out my pinky in front of him. He looked confused.

I chuckled and said, "I promise I'll be alright. If anything happens, I have my phone. I'll call you. Pinky promise." Aaron smiled sadly and linked his pinky with mine. When we were younger, this was always how we made deals and promises. It was a guaranty that we would keep the promise.

"You better," he mumbled. He put his hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead. I went back to Jayden and the two of us got into his car. Aaron waved goodbye as we drove off. I smiled to myself, confident the night would be fine. Or so I hoped…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Dinner went fine. Jayden and I ordered off the menu, he said I could have anything since he was paying, and while we were waiting for our food, we chatted. We just talked about small things like our favorites, where we went to school, our past, ect. After dinner, he asked if there was anything I wanted to do while we were in town, so I asked if we could go to the book store. I had a few books at home, but I'd read all of them. He said sure.

We left the car next to the restaurant and went to a local bookstore I'd never been to before. It wasn't too far from the car, but I didn't like being even that short distance away without a quick escape. While we were there, I noticed two guys watching us walk around the store. I tried to ignore them and made sure I was closer to Jayden. Jayden was bigger than both of those guys, so I felt safer around him. After I bought two new books to read, Jayden and I started walking back to his car. I chanced a glance behind us, and I saw that the two guys were still following us.

Panicking, I glanced at Jayden and whispered, "There are two guys following us. They were at the bookstore too." Jayden glanced back and sighed.

He whispered back, "I know them. Let's keep going, and if they follow us, I'll talk to them." I nodded and tried to appear calm, but on the inside I was freaking out. I remember about what Hannah was saying earlier. She said to make sure I keep in the public. I looked around. There was no one here besides us and the two behind us. I gulped and looked for an open business. I saw one across the street. I pulled on Jayden's arm to get his attention.

"Can we go in there?" I said softly motioning to the business. Jayden looked at it then back at me. He sighed.

"Are you scared?" he asked slowly. I paused for a moment then nodded. He sighed. We stopped. Jayden ran his hand through his hair and looked back at the guys. He looked back to me and instructed, "Wait here. I'll be right back. If you get too nervous, go ahead into that store over there. I'll come get you." As soon as he left me, I started walking over there. I got inside and looked out the window. I saw Jayden talking casually with the two guys who had been following us. They kept looking in the direction of the store, and I was growing ever more nervous.

"Hey," came a snarly voice I didn't recognize. "Are you alright?" I turned to look at an older man standing over me. He was watching me with concern, and although his voice was rough, he looked nice enough.

"For now," I replied, glancing back outside. "But maybe not for long." The man glanced out in the direction I was watching. One of the guys grabbed Jayden by the front of his shirt. He said something while waving his hands in a surrender motion then was let go.

The man got a look of realization on his face. "Ah," he replied. "That, feller out there from around these parts?" I nodded. The man sighed and leaned against one of the shelves. "You know anything 'bout his history? He a part of any gangs or sumthin?" I bit my lip and nodded.

"His sister said he was a part of a gang when they lived in Forks." The man nodded.

"Well little lady, I'd say you need to get on out of this situation. You have a car?" I shook my head.

"I came with him, but I have the keys to his car. He gave them to me so I could get into the car while he went to the bathroom earlier." The man nodded. We both watched as Jayden and the two guys started walking across the street this way. The man grumbled something under his breath, and although I didn't catch exactly what he said, it didn't sound nice. He went to the back counter and pulled out a large rifle. My eyes widened. The man smiled at me.

He explained, "I ain't haven' no little lady gettin' hurt while I'm around. We'll go out together, and I'll keep them two goons away while you and that other guy get out of here. Alrighty?" I nodded slowly. I was very scared, but as the old man went out before me as the three reached the shop, I felt somewhat braver. Jayden looked at the man then at me who was hiding behind him.

"Allie," Jayden said reaching out his hand. "Come on. These are some friends of mine. I want to introduce you." The way he said it made me almost trust him, but my brain made me stay where I was at.

"I'd rather not. Jayden, please just take me home. I really want to get home." The two guys with Jayden didn't say anything. Jayden sighed and rubbed his face.

"Allie, let me introduce you to them, then we'll go home. You'd want to keep Hannah safe and happy right?" That statement made me wonder if he knew Hannah told me about him. What if they were threatening to hurt Hannah if he didn't do what they said? I wouldn't let them hurt her.

"Of course," I replied. I narrowed my eyes and finished, "But not like this. Come on Jayden. Let's just leave." When Jayden tried to take a step closer to me, the old man blocked his way.

The old man said, "Now you, Jayden, you listen to what the little lady says. You'll just be taken her home now and not do nuthin else. Understand? And you two others will stay right where you are." One of the other guys took a step towards the man. The man quickly cocked his gun and pointed it at the guy. He stopped. "You think I'm jokin. I'm as serious as can be." The two guys looked between each other and smiled. One of them took out a gun and as fast as possible, shot the old man right before my eyes. I tried to scream, but Jayden was at my side and covering my mouth to prevent me from doing so.

"Shh," he whispered in my ear. "It'll all be over soon." I tried to twist my way free, but Jayden was much stronger than I thought. He pulled me into the ally on the left of the building. One of the other guys grabbed the body and pulled it in as well. I started crying. I managed to worm my way around so I was facing Jayden

I pulled his hand off and pleaded, "Please just let me go. I'll never speak of anything, just please let me go." Jayden's face seamed to be filled with regret, but if what he said earlier was anywhere near the truth of what ever these guys were holding over him, he was more willing to let me get hurt than Hannah, which I can understand, but this was the wrong way to go about it.

"I'm sorry Allie," he whispered. "I have no other choice. They'd kill Hannah." One of the guys grabbed me from behind causing me to let out a scream into the night. My mouth was quickly covered. He wrapped his arm around my neck and spun around to face the other guy. He was smiling evilly.

The one holding me pulled my dress slowly up the side of my legs. The other guy smirked as he pulled off my undergarments. The man lowered me to the ground while holding onto me.

He leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "You're mine now." The next ten minutes killed me. What hurt the most though, was the fact that Jayden just stood aside: watching. He didn't do anything while they took advantage of me. He didn't leave. He didn't try and help. He didn't call anyone. He just stood there.

I managed to build up enough courage to kick the guy in front of me. He stumbled back and glared down at me.

"Why you little…" he started. He hit me in the side of the head knocking the guy's hand off my mouth. I screamed again as loud as I could and tried to get free. They chuckled as my mouth was once again covered.

"You have quite a set of lungs," one of the guys whispered in my ear. "How about we fix that?" The guy had a knife. "You see," he explained. "My buddy Rob here took a class on the human body. He was going to become one of those people that performs autopsies. He knew exactly where to cut on the human body to penetrate the voice box without harming any other part of the person. Neat right? How about he shows us a demonstration?"

The man holding me kept a firm hold over my mouth and held my head still as I tried to squirm. I looked around for anything that might get me out of this mess. When nothing showed to help me, I closed my eyes and grew very still. I had no hope of getting away, so I might as well make it as painless as possible on me. I felt the touch of cold metal against my soft neck.

"Ready?" the evil man's voice came into my ear again. "Let's see just how well Rob's education was." As soon as pressure was applied, it was gone. I heard a scream. Then the person holding me was ripped away, and I fell to the ground. I started crying as soon as I hit the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the two guys getting beat up by someone, but I didn't bother paying attention. I stood up and ran out of the ally as fast as I could. I could hear Jayden calling out behind me, but I ignored him. I just kept running. I ran all the way home.

It ended up taking close to four hours to run home. I only knew because I had worn a watch. I started running about 9:20 and it was 1:12 when I finally reached home. If I had ran along the road, it would have taken longer, but once I reached Forks, I ran through the woods. I remembered the paths Seth, Aaron, Leah, and I would play on throughout Forks and La Push when I was younger, so I took them once I reached the woods. I fell onto the driveway and started crying. I was broken.

I slowly stood up after a few minutes and carefully walked up to the door. It was locked. My eyes widened as I realized that I'd dropped my purse after the old man was shot. I felt my eyes tear up again. I looked at my watch. 1:15. There was still almost two and a half hours until Aaron would be home, and I did not want to wait that long here by myself in a tore up dress.

My hair was knotted and had twigs and dirt all in it from falling while I ran. I'd lost my shawl when the guy had been ripped off of me. My dress had ripped on the trees I ran through along with tripping over it while I still had both heels. After the first hour of running, my left heel had broken off, but I didn't bother to stop. That probably led to me being more tore up than I could have been. I was skinned up and bleeding all over, especially on my forehead. I just knew I might pass out soon, and I wasn't going to be stuck here.

I backed up and looked around the top of the trees until I saw a stream of smoke in the distance. It looked like it was coming from the beach. I bundled up my dress and started through the woods to the beach, in hopes that was where the bonfire was being held. After walking for about ten minutes, I came to the beach and saw a huge fire a little ways down along with people walking around, laughing. I felt tears of relief falling down my face as I saw people I recognized like Jacob, Paul, Embry, Quil, Hannah, and Aaron. I picked up my dress once more and started walking towards them. From the distance, I could tell that people started to notice me. Eventually, Aaron noticed me.

"Allie," he yelled out. He started running as fast as he could to where I was. I ran as well as I could to meet him in a few seconds. When we reached each other, he wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him as I cried into his chest. Everyone else that had been at the bonfire ran over to where we were at. Hannah was next to me in an instant. She ran her hand over my back. She knew what happened. Aaron was watching me with concern as was everyone else there, whether I knew them or not.

"What happened?" Aaron said as he stroked my hair. I tried to speak, but I was too upset to say anything. I looked to Hannah who was directly to my right. I looked to her and she nodded, letting me know she'd explain.

"I know what happened," she said slowly. I didn't notice what happened next, but I heard Hannah scream lightly. I looked back over and saw Embry standing directly in front of her with his hands on her shoulders.

"What happened?" he demanded. "What happened to her?" Aaron growled.

"Embry," he said harshly. "Let go of her. Let her speak." Embry looked at Aaron then down at me. His eyes filled with heartbreak when he saw how broken I was. He slowly let Hannah go and took a step back. Aaron held onto me, and we all migrated over to the fire. Aaron sat us down on a log, and Hannah sat down on the log that was at the head of them all so she could see everyone as she spoke. Embry sat down right next to me, and I noticed that he was just as abnormally warm as Paul and Aaron. I didn't care though. I held Aaron tighter which he returned.

Hannah cleared her throat and began, "As much as I love my brother, it's all his fault Allie's like this. You see, Jayden was… is… apart of a gang known as the _Fallen Brotherhood,_ and they are a very bad gang if you've ever heard of them. They're known for murder, robbery, rape, assault, terrorism, and stuff like that. Well, one of the motto's of the gang is 'You're with us or against us,' and if you are against them, you're killed, tortured, and treated as a victim. Sometimes, when Jayden has gone on dates before or just hung out with some friends not in the gang, he'll end up running into parts of the gang while he's out. If the people he runs into want to do something to the person or people he's with… he has to."

Someone, who I thought sounded a lot like Paul, yelled out, "Why would he have to let them do anything? He can say no." Hannah grew quiet. She swallowed hard and her heart beat increased in speed.

She replied, "If he doesn't do what they say… they'll kill us both." Aaron's head snapped in her direction. "A while back, when Jayden was trying to get out, the gang leader found out about our family. At the time, it was just me, mom, and Jayden. When the gang leader, who goes by the name Roach, found out Jayden had a family that he cared about, he used that against him. He…" A tear fell down Hannah's cheek. "He had my mother killed. As a warning. He told Jayden that if he ever crossed him or anyone in the gang again, he would have me killed. Jayden couldn't stand to lose both of us, so he had no choice but to give in. He's only been approached once, but I can't help but warn every girl that he decides to date that I meet. I tried to warn Allie of it, but she said she'd be alright. She said she could get away." Hannah had tears pouring down her face. One of the girls there went over and pulled her into an embrace.

She continued, "Based on the condition that Allie is in, I'd say that the same thing happened to her as the other girl. Though, the other girl was killed." Aaron gulped and his grip on me tightened even tighter.

Slowly, he whispered, "What happened to the other girl?" Hannah looked directly at him. Her heart was breaking for having to tell him this. My lip was trembling as I looked up at him. A deadly silence came over the group.

"Aaron," I whimpered so softly I was scared he didn't hear me. He looked down at me. He had an idea about what I was going to tell him, but he didn't want to hear it. "Aaron… I was raped." Just then, my body declared I'd had enough for one night and I slipped into the gentle realm of unconsciousness just as a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.

_"Alliena," a dreary voice called. "Alliena Syst." I looked around, but darkness was all I saw. "I'm coming for you Alliena."_

_"Stay away," I said softly. "Stay away from me." Deep chuckling was the only reply I received. I tried moving my foot forward but quickly retracted it when I only came in contact with empty space._

_"Alliena, why do you fear me so? I only ever wanted to help you," the same voice said. The voice sounded like a slithering snake. It sent chills down my spine to hear it._

_I replied, "I fear what I do not know." The same chuckling echoed around me._

_"My dear, but you do know me. You know me very well." My heart sped up in fear._

_"Who are you?" I whimpered._

_The chuckling was followed by, "I saved you tonight. I saved you, and you didn't even thank me. How rude. I thought you were raised better than that." My eyes grew wide as the voice drew closer. I could almost recognize the voice now._

_"Austin," I whispered silently. A shadow appeared in front of me. Light fell down from somewhere above and revealed to me my oldest brother, but he looked different than I remembered. His dark hair glistened in the light as did the rest of him. It almost appeared like his skin was sparkling._

_"Yes my dearest Alliena," he replied. "It is I." I swallowed hard._

_"I don't go by Alliena now," I said softly. "I go by Allie." He smiled at me and walked closer until he was directly in front of me._

_"Yes," he whispered so lightly it was like a brush of the wind. "Allie." I swallowed once again._

_I slowly asked, "If you are the one who saved me from death, why did you not save me beforehand?" Austin sighed._

_He replied, "I'm sorry Allie dearest. I came a minute too late, and for that I apologize. However, I must ask you, why did you allow yourself to get in that position to begin with? I thought you were wiser than that?" I sighed and looked away._

_"I'm sorry," I answered. "I didn't think much of it until it was too late." Austin sighed and gently caressed the side of my face._

_He softly whispered, "I wish to give you a gift. One that will help you so much." I scrunched my eyes together._

_"A gift?" I croaked. "What kind?" Austin smiled and pulled me into a gentle hug._

_He whispered in my ear, "When you are ready to receive it, I will give it to you. Until then, keep this." He placed something in my hand. "It will keep you safe for now." He pulled away from me. I looked down in my hand and saw a pendent. It wasn't one I'd seen before._

_I looked up at him and asked, "What's it for?" He smiled and kissed my forehead._

_"You will know in due time. You must promise though that you will trust me regardless of what others say. Others will say terrible things about me"_

_I held it tight and replied, "I promise." Austin smiled._

_"I will see you in person very soon. Stay safe until then. I know Aaron will protect you along with that charming new fellow…" I was confused._

_"What new fellow?" He smiled and rubbed my cheek one last time. Before I could say anything else, he slowly backed away into the darkness leaving me alone. The darkness was so thick I could no longer see the pendent I was holding. I held it tight_

_A whisper of the wind came, "Promise, Allie dearest, you will wait for me."_

_"I promise," I whispered into the darkness. "I promise, my dearest brother." Instantaneously, I began to fall. I tried to scream, but nothing would come out. I tried to grab something, but nothing was there. I simply fell, fell, fell…_

My eyes slowly cracked open but quickly shut due to the lightness of where I was at. I was vaguely aware that it was a new day. Slowly, I sat up. When I was upright, I tried opening my eyes again to find out that it was now much easier. I gathered my bearings and looked around the room. I'd never seen the room before, but it was very roomy. There was the bed I was sleeping in, a big recliner that had my suit case sitting in it opened showing how a few changes of clothes were in it along with a few other personal things. I looked to my right to see an open bathroom door. There was a window on the wall to the right behind me with a table under it.

I swung my feet off the side slowly and set them down on the soft carpet floor. I looked down and noticed that I was in a night gown I'd, again, never seen before. My entire body was aching, and I felt like I was going to explode. Painfully, I stood up. Once I'd gained my balance, I scooted towards the door. I creaked it open and was instantly greeted with the smell of fresh cooking. Although my body was very weak, I slowly walked down the hall. I turned the corner around a set of stairs and was instantly in a kitchen. I looked around and didn't recognize anything. Where was I?

There was a woman cooking at the stove in front of the window. I squinted my eyes trying to think if I remembered her, though from the back, I didn't remember anything. I slid across the cold stone floor and sat down in one of the stools at the bar. The woman turned around and smiled kindly at me.

"I see you're up," came her sing-songy voice. "You had us all worried." I rubbed my eyes to try and get them used to the light. I was finally able to see clearly, and I smiled back at the woman. She had three long scars across the right side of her face, but I didn't really notice that right off the back. The left side of her face was extremely beautiful, and because of how my mind was working right now, the right side of her face was filled in with a mirror reflection of the left.

I rubbed my irritated eyes again and quietly asked, "Where am I?" The woman chuckled and went back to cooking something that smelt divine.

She replied, "My and Sam's house. My name is Emily. What's your name?" I scrunched my eyes together.

"You don't know my name, but you let me stay in your house for…" I tried to think of what day it was, but in all honesty, I didn't know.

"Five days," Emily filled in. I gasped. I'd been asleep for five days! Emily turned and chuckled at my expression. "I know your name, Allie. I just always ask someone's name when I first talk to them. Don't worry," she added. "Everyone took good care of you, and just so you know, it was me who changed your clothes, not one of the boys." Well, at least that was one relief. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. A headache was slowly forming. If it had been Friday, well Saturday, when I passed out, then it should be…

"So is today Thursday?" I asked softly. Emily nodded.

"Yep," she replied. She grabbed a big plate next to her and put three pancakes on it. She turned to me and set it down in front of me. "Hungry?" I nodded. She smiled at me which I returned. She put some syrup on them and handed me a fork. I felt like I hadn't eaten in years, which must have explained how I was able to eat nine pancakes. When I was done, I sat back and glanced around.

The house was small, but it was beautiful. The bar was the divider between the kitchen and the living room. The front door was just to the right of the kitchen when you left out the kitchen door. The living room had one large couch in it along with four small chairs in various places all around a small T.V against the wall. There were a few shelves against the wall right before the hallway and the stairs. I didn't want to go upstairs, so I just sat where I was. I spun back around to face Emily who was eating her own breakfast now.

"Where's Aaron?" I asked. After thinking, I also added, "Where's Hannah?" Emily smiled and swallowed the food in her mouth before answering.

"Aaron's with the other boys. Hannah is with Kim right now. They will be here shortly though. The boys won't be here until a little later." I nodded. My head still hurt incredibly. I sighed.

I asked, "Why am I here instead of my house? It's not that I don't like your house, but I just don't know why I'm here instead of my house." Emily chuckled at my rambling. She reminded me a lot of my mother used to be.

She replied, "It's alright. The reason you're here is because Aaron wanted to make sure someone would always be with you. There's always someone at my house, so Aaron asked if you could stay here." I nodded and smiled at the caring attitude of my brother. He was always worrying about me. Someone knocked loudly causing me to cover my ears. Note to self: stay away from loud noises. Emily chuckled and opened the door. Hannah and another girl I didn't recognize walked in. When Hannah saw me, her eyes grew huge and she ran up to me.

"Allie," she exclaimed giving me a hug that knocked me off the stool. "You're awake!" I chuckled at her antics and hugged her back.

"Yeah," I replied softly. "Hey, can you talk a little quieter? My head is pounding." Hannah blushed in embarrassment.

"Sure," she said much softer. "I'm sorry." I chuckled her and hugged her again.

"I love you Hannah." She smiled and hugged me back.

She replied, "Love ya too Al." We broke apart, and I glanced over at the other girl who was standing nervously to the side. I smiled at her and gave her a surprise hug. She was shocked but hugged me back.

I chuckled and explained, "Sorry, I'm in a hugging mood. If Emily had been on the other side of the bar, I would have given her a hug already. Anyway, you must be Kim? Emily said Hannah was with you." The girl smiled and nodded, confirming my suspicions.

"Yeah, I'm Kim," she said softly. "Are you feeling alright Allie?" I nodded and the three of us sat down on the couch. I sat against the arm rest to keep me upright, Hannah sat next to me, and Kim sat on the other side of her. Emily walked into the living room and scooted in between Kim and the other arm of the couch.

"Yeah," I replied letting out a breath. "I'm just really exhausted." I smiled at them all to let them know I was fine. No need to make everyone worry. I could die on the inside. No one would notice. Aaron might, but I'm sure I can convince him I'm alright after some time.

The door burst open and lots of noise filled the air. I cringed, but I managed to fight the urge to cover my ears. Emily stood up and glared as a bunch of boys filed into her house.

"Hey," she exclaimed, somewhat quietly. "Keep it down will you?" Everyone immediately quieted down. All of the guys sat down. Some in the living room, some in at the kitchen bar. Aaron came in laughing, but he quickly quieted down when he saw me. His face breathed out relief. He maneuvered around everyone and the couch so that he could pull me up into his arms.

"Thank goodness you're alright," he whispered into my hair. "I thought you would never wake up." A tear fell down my eye as I hung onto him.

I whispered, "A part of me didn't want to." Aaron held me tighter. After a moment, he let me go, but he didn't leave. Rather, he sat down on the couch where I was sitting next to Hannah and pulled me down onto him. I blushed for a moment, but it quickly went away. I knew all eyes were on me, but I tried to keep my head down so that I wouldn't have to look anyone in the eye. Aaron noticed my discomfort.

"You haven't got a chance to meet everyone yet," he stated. He pointed to one guy and started naming names, "You know Paul. Next to him is Jared, who I think you met, Jacob and Quil, you both met them the other night." He turned around and pointed to the guys sitting at the bar. "That bigger guy up there in the chair behind Emily is Sam, and the other guy is Embry. You met him the other night too. You've already met Kim and Emily, so I don't need to reintroduce them. You got everyone?" I smiled a small smile. I pointed to Paul.

"Paul," I said softly. I slowly went down the line naming each one. "Jared, Quil, Jacob." I turned around and pointed at Sam. "Sam, and Embry." Embry smiled widely when I said his name. I smiled back and looked to the ones on the couch. I started with Emily and said, "Emily, Kim, Hannah," I pointed to myself and chuckled. "Allie and Aaron. That's everyone." Aaron smiled sadly.

"Yeah," he said softly letting out a soft laugh. "That's everyone." After a moment, everything seamed to move into motion. Emily went back into the kitchen and pulled out a hidden stack of pancakes that she set out for all the boys. Aaron got up and went to get some. I was suddenly thankful I already ate as I watched the seven boys devour everything Emily cooked. Kim and Hannah went ahead and got some pancakes Emily had saved for them. I leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes to rest. When the couch dipped down next to me, I assumed that it was Aaron, and leaned over onto his shoulder with my eyes still closed. I felt his arm tense up then slowly relax. I curled up against his arm and quickly fell asleep. I was still very exhausted even after sleeping for five days.

I woke up a while later to someone gently shaking me. I groaned and swatted them away, cuddling up more so to what I was lying on.

"Go away," I mumbled. I heard deep chuckling from under me, and it wasn't Aaron. I opened my eyes and looked at who I was lying on. I looked strait into the eyes of Embry. My first reaction was to jump up, but after I realized that it was Embry, my body relaxed. It felt right. I turned my head back to where I was comfortable and turned my eyes to look up at Aaron who was standing over me.

"What do you want?" I asked groggily. He chuckled.

He replied, "I just thought you might want to know that Seth and Leah are back. They're coming over later, and I thought you might want to change out of your night gown." I looked down and blushed when I saw that I really still was in the same night gown I woke up earlier in.

I sighed and tried to sit up, but something was restraining me. I looked down and saw that Embry's arm was wrapped firmly around me. I smiled and looked up at him.

"Do you think I can get up?" I asked him softly. He smirked down at me and rolled over so I was now lying against his chest.

"Na," he replied wrapping both arms around me and pulling me closer. "I'm comfortable. You alright?" I chuckled and moved around so I was comfortable again.

"I'm good," I agreed. I looked up at Aaron and smiled. "You good?" Aaron rolled his eyes and sat back against the couch back at my feet. Embry and I were taking up half of the couch since I was basically on top of him, and Aaron took up the rest. Hannah had migrated to the floor between Aaron and I and was asleep using Aaron's leg as a pillow while he gently stroked her hair. Emily was currently sitting in Sam's lap sleeping gently while he sat in one of the recliners. Quil and Jacob were gone, but Kim was here, and she and Jared were sitting as close as humanly possible on the floor against the wall. She was sleeping against Jared who held her protectively. Apparently, everyone was tired. The door opened and slammed shut which woke everyone up.

"Hello everyone," Seth exclaimed in a monotone voice. All of the guys growled at him for waking up all the girls. I jumped up and gave Seth a big hug.

"I missed you so much!" I exclaimed. He chuckled and hugged be back. I took a step back and smiled up at him. I then realized three things. 1) Seth was much taller now. 2) He was as warm as the other guys now. 3) He was shirtless wearing cut off shorts. "What happened?" I asked slowly. He chuckled softly.

"I was sick," he replied. "But I got much better. Better than I was before hand… in a way." I looked at his new and improved self.

"Man," I mumbled. "If this is the results from being sick, I want whatever you got." Aaron scoffed.

"No," he said plainly. "You don't." I ignored him and continued smiling at Seth.

"Is Leah with you?" I asked rapidly. Seth's small smile sunk.

He replied, "No, she's home…" I narrowed my eyes.

"Doing what? She should come say hello." Seth sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

He whispered, "She's… planning a funeral…" My eyes widened in fear. Did I know them?

"For who?" I asked softly. Seth looked away from me.

"My dad," he said softly. "He had a heart attack and died." I gasped. Uncle Harry was dead now too? I fell to the ground. Uncle Harry was dead. A tear fell down my cheek.

"Uncle Harry's dead," I whispered. Seth nodded. I felt a warm arm wrap around me. I looked up into Embry's eyes. Although he normally wouldn't have been my first choice, he was here. I jumped into his arms and cried into him. All of the girls were crying softly. Something I learned about these people already, they stayed together. Aaron had a blank face.

"When?" Aaron asked so softly, hoping no one would hear.

Seth replied, "First time Leah and I tried at the same time as him. It… wasn't fun." Aaron closed his eyes in pain. Embry pulled me back down to the couch so I wouldn't fall over if he let go or loosened his grip, but I doubted that he would loosen his grip let alone let me go. If anything, he held me tighter.

Aaron eventually asked, "Where's Aunt Sue?"

"With the elders," Seth answered quickly. "They are all at Billy's house." Aaron nodded. He stood up and looked to where Emily and Sam were sitting.

"Can you watch her a little longer?" Aaron asked softly. Sam nodded and Emily quietly said yes. He sighed in relief. One less thing to worry about. Aaron turned to me and gently placed his hand on my back. "Allie," he whispered. "I've got to go." I snapped up and looked at him.

"Why?" I asked. "Where?" Aaron sighed.

"I'm going to see Aunt Sue, and I have a few other things I need to take care of." I watched him with yearning eyes.

I quietly asked, "Can't I come?" He paused in the doorway.

"Not now," he replied. "You need to rest yourself. You've had so much go wrong recently. Worry about yourself first for once." I bit my lip and said nothing. Hannah gave Aaron a hug right before he left out of the house. Everyone sat still for a while. Eventually, Sam sighed and stood up, gently setting Emily down in the chair.

He said in his strong deep voice, "Jared, come on. We have to go." Jared stood up with Kim still in his arms. He walked over to where Emily was and had Kim sit in the chair next to her. Embry looked up at Sam while keeping a hold to me.

"You want me to come?" he asked wearily. Sam looked at me then shook his head.

"Not this time," he replied. "But next time." Embry had a look of relief wash over his face.

He smiled and called out, "Thanks." Sam smiled sadly and walked out of the house followed by Jared. I looked up at Embry.

"Sit up a little," I said softly. He complied without any questions. I sat up against him a little more to allow a little more room on the couch. Still in Embry's arms, I looked to Emily and Kim. "Come on over here," I said to them. They slowly stood up and sat on the couch. Hannah sat directly next to me, Kim next to her and Emily next to her. Because Embry was so big, he took up enough of the couch so that Hannah, Kim, Emily and I were all comfy next to each other. I looked at Kim and Emily. They were all still crying and where so sad because of the loss of Harry. I may not know much about what's been going on lately, but there were a few things I still knew about situations like this.

"Hey Emily," I whispered to her. "Do you have any ice cream?" She nodded and looked to me with confused eyes.

"Yeah, I always have some. Why?" I smiled and moved so my back was against Embry's chest.

I replied, "Can you get some for us all?" She smiled sadly as she realized what I was doing. She slowly stood up and went into the kitchen. I looked to Kim.

I asked, "You come here a lot right?" She nodded. "Can you go pick out the funniest movie they have here?" Kim smiled sadly and got up. I looked to Hannah.

She smiled sadly, and I asked, "Can you go get us a few extra blankets?" She nodded and got off the couch as well. I looked up at Embry who was watching me closely.

"What else are you going to do?" he asked softly. He seamed to be content just being there with me. I thought for a moment before smiling at him.

I replied, "Put on a strong face fore everyone else. I've dealt with so much lately... I know that sometimes the best thing is someone to look to for direction. It keeps everything in order you know? That way everything doesn't fall apart." Embry smiled and pulled me close to him.

"You're a strong person," he whispered into my head. "You know that?" I smiled and closed my eyes.

"Not really," I replied. I looked up at him and finished, "If I was strong, I wouldn't be unable to move without help." Embry's face softened more than it was if that was possible. For a moment, we were the only two people in the world. He leaned in and kissed my forehead. When he pulled away, I could feel the place he kissed still tingling. He smiled down at me.

"You are the strongest person I know, and don't you ever doubt that." I smiled back at him and leaned against his chest.

I whispered softly, "I won't as long as you keep saying things like that." Embry smiled and for a moment, everything was right.

Kim ended up picking out the movie Monster In-law which helped cheer everyone up. Emily made all of us delicious Sunday's, and Hannah brought lots of blankets to keep us all warm. Only Embry didn't get a blanket – except for the one I was using – because he said he would get too hot. Each of us girls got one individual blanket, and we shared two others.

By the time the movie was over, everyone was asleep except for Embry and I, but I was almost asleep. The door creaked open and someone came inside.

"They all doing okay?" Aaron asked softly. Embry nodded.

"Yeah," he replied. "They're all sleeping right now. Allie was able to cheer everyone up." Aaron chuckled lightly.

"She's always had that gift." Aaron's light voice turned serious. "Take care of her will you? I trust you'll be there for her, but she's been through a lot lately. She lost both parents, was raped, and lost Uncle Harry within two months, and she's only fifteen. Eventually she'll crack, and you'll have to be there to hold her together. Can you take that responsibility?" Embry looked down at me and gently stroked my hair.

"Yeah," he replied softly. "I can take that responsibility." I smiled softly to myself and gently slipped into a dream world.

_I looked around but nothing was there. At first, I thought maybe it would be the same dream I had earlier, but it quickly changed. Everything lit up, and I found myself in the forest. I looked around and my eyes landed on something moving within the shadows of the trees. I peered inside to try and get a better look, but I couldn't see anything in the dark. Eventually, the thing moving broke free of the trees, and I gasped in surprise. I was looking at myself._

_"Hello?" I called out trying to see if the other Allie could hear me. Apparently she couldn't._

_She glanced around until she stopped when she was looking directly at me. I stood there frozen in spot. She walked forward, and I thought maybe she could see me. However, I knew this was not so when she walked strait through me. I turned around and saw what she'd been looking at. Embry._

_They stood facing each other for a long while until Embry slowly backed into the woods. I didn't move from the spot I was in. Out of the same spot Embry had backed into, a huge wolf that looked to be about the size of a horse came out. Both I and the other Allie gasped in shock. I tried to back up, but I was stuck._

_The wolf had gray fur and dark spots on its back. The other Allie took a step back. The wolf didn't move. It simply stayed where it was at. The other Allie kept backing up from fear._

_"Stay," she said softly. "Don't come any closer." I kept trying to move, but I couldn't. The other Allie turned and ran through me and back into the woods. It was strange, but it looked as though the wolf was sad. Although I couldn't back up, I was able to take a step forward. I walked until I was directly where the other Allie had been when the wolf first came out. I looked into its brown eyes. It seemed so sad._

_"Hello," I whispered softly. The wolf appeared to hear me because it looked around for the source of my voice. "I'm in front of you," I said just as soft. It then looked right down at me. "You seem so sad." The wolf laid down on the ground. It was so big that even while lying down, it was still as tall as my waist. I reached out to touch it, but my hand went strait through it._

_"You're not so scary," I whispered. "You actually remind me of someone." I looked into the wolf's eyes and watched them. It seemed like there was something familiar about the wolf. My eyes widened when I realized what I was missing._

_"Embry," I whimpered. "You're Embry." The wolf sat up and shook its tail happily, showing me I was right. I looked up at wolf Embry. How could the other Allie have not seen it? Maybe she was too scared she didn't see his eyes. Wolf Embry looked right at me and appeared to smile._

_I smiled back and asked, "Can you see me?" Wolf Embry nodded his huge head. Something ruffled in the woods behind me. Wolf Embry began to growl and crouched down like he was ready for a fight. I turned around and watched as Austin came out of the trees with a big smile on his face._

_"So," he said slowly. "I see you figured it out, my dearest Allie." I narrowed my eyes in confusion._

_I replied, "I don't understand. What am I missing? Why is Embry a wolf? What's going on?" Austin sighed and started to walk closer. Wolf Embry jumped into action. He jumped in front of me and growled menacingly at Austin. Austin stopped and chuckled._

_"I won't hurt her," he explained to Wolf Embry. "I'm her brother. Why would I hurt my own sister?" Wolf Embry continued to growl at Austin. I steeped around Wolf Embry and faced Austin._

_I asked, "What's going on?" Austin smiled and took a step closer then stopped because Wolf Embry growled again._

_He sighed and replied, "You should ask Embry. He'll explain it to you. Do you still have the pendent?" I looked in my hand but didn't see anything. I didn't remember waking up with it last time I had a dream._

_"I don't know," I whispered. "I don't know where it would be." Austin smiled and placed his hand on my cheek. I looked up at his calm face and smiled._

_"It's alright," he replied softly. "I shouldn't have expected you to know. You'll find it soon. Don't worry. I'll make sure of it." Austin glanced over my shoulder back at Wolf Embry. He smirked and waved._

_"When?" I asked, drawing attention back to me._

_Austin smiled and replied, "Soon." He smiled back at Wolf Embry. "Take care of her until I get there." Wolf Embry did nothing in reply. Austin smiled down at me one last time. He kissed my forehead briefly. "I've always loved you, Allie. Don't doubt that." Austin slowly drifted backwards into the forest and disappeared between the trees._

_I turned back around and looked at Wolf Embry. He seemed so sad about something. I walked up to him and placed my hand on his head. He looked into my eyes, and he almost seemed to smile. I smiled back._

_"I don't know what you are exactly, but I know there's some kind of connection between us," I said quietly. Wolf Embry seemed to hear me and liked my face in happiness. I chuckled and rubbed his head._

_"Easy," I whispered. "Easy…" There was a loud yelling type sound coming from deep in the trees. I looked back towards the trees then back at Wolf Embry. I smiled and gave his huge head one last hug._

_He whined when I tried to let go. I chuckled and whispered, "I have to go, but don't you worry. I'll see you again soon. I promise." Wolf Embry looked at me sad, but he let me leave him. I kept my eyes connected with his as I backed away into the trees. I was surprised I was able to back up this time. Once I was completely engulfed in darkness, I turned and ran as fast as I could, remembering just how much love was filled in those big brown eyes…_

When I woke up again, I was back in the bed I was in earlier. I sat up and looked at the clock on the table next to the bed. 8:30pm. I sighed and stretched my arms out. I noticed that Aaron was asleep in the chair over in the corner. I smiled to myself. He was so cute in the position he was in. He had his legs draped over the edge of the chair on the floor. His right arm was holding up his head while the left one was sitting gently in his lap. I climbed out of bed and carefully placed the blanket on the end of my bed over him. He stirred slightly but quickly went back to sleep. He was always a heavy sleeper.

I grabbed my bag off the floor and went into the bathroom. I changed quickly into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. I left the night gown on top of my bag and left the room all together. When I got into the living room, Paul was sitting on the couch with Hannah, Jared and Kim were sitting side by side in the chairs, Embry was sitting in a different chair, and there was a little girl playing with Quil in the floor. In the kitchen, Emily was cooking something again while Sam watched her from the bar. Hannah saw me and turned so she could face me.

"Hey Allie, ready to get up for good this time?" I smiled and nodded. I walked around and sat down between Paul and Hannah on the couch. Paul smiled down at me and put his arm over my shoulders.

"Dream any dreams?" he asked me casually. My mind went to the Wolf Embry. I glanced in Embry's direction for a moment before looking back to Paul. I shrugged.

"Nothing too spectacular," I replied. "Dreamed of you falling off a cliff, but like I said nothing too spectacular." Paul chuckled.

"Oh really?" I nodded. He took his arm off and turned to the side pretending to be hurt. "I thought you cared more for me than that?" I rolled my eyes; ignoring him. I looked at the young girl playing with Quil. I scooted forward on the couch and smiled down at her. She was a pretty little girl.

"Hello," I said quietly to her. "What's your name?" The little girl looked up at me with her big brown eyes. I smiled to myself. She brushed her curly brown hair out of her face and smiled back.

She replied, "I'm Claire. What's your name?" Although she sounded like a child, each word she pronounced was perfect. I smiled a little wider.

"I'm Allie." Claire's face merged into one of understanding.

"Oh, I know what an owie is! I got one when I fell off my bike. See…" She held up her knee and pointed to where it was scraped up. "Owie." I chuckled as did most everyone else.

"Allie," I repeated emphasizing the Al part. Claire seemed to notice her mistake, for her small plump cheeks grew red in embarrassment.

She mumbled, "I'm sorry Allie. Pwease forgive me?" I smiled and lifted her chin up so she was looking at me.

I replied, "I was never angry at you. All's forgiven." Claire's face lit up, and she went back to playing with Quil in the floor. I could tell that everyone was watching me as I moved around the rest of the day.

Soon, my daily routine became helping Emily cook, clean, and just talking with her for the next two weeks. Aaron still wouldn't let me go back to Aunt Sue's house even though I wanted to go back and be with her. She'd lost her sister and her husband within a few months. It had to be hard on her. The days seamed to be getting back to normal, but one day changed my entire life.

It was about three weeks since the incident. I woke up at around 8:30am like I did most every morning, but something felt a little off. I got out of bed and started on my way to the kitchen when I suddenly got sick to my stomach. I covered my mouth and ran to the bathroom, barely making it in time. Once I could sit up without feeling nauseous, I sat and took a few deep breaths. This went on for the next four days. I'd wake up, get sick, and be in and out of the bathroom the rest of the day.

On Friday, while I was bent over the toilet, someone came up behind me and held my hair out of the way. When I'd finally emptied my stomach, I leaned back against the bathtub and looked up into Aaron's worried eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked suddenly. "You've been really sick with no explanation." I shook my head.

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I just wake up feeling sick." I noticed in the door way that Embry, Emily, Hannah, and Paul were all standing there watching me worriedly. I smiled and held up a hand to try and tell them I was alright, when I suddenly got sick once more.

Emily left for a moment and came back with a little white pill and a glass of water. She handed it to me and said, "Here. Take this. It should help settle your stomach." I nodded and took the little white pill. Once I was sure I wasn't going to get sick again, Aaron helped me up and into the kitchen.

Paul glanced at the clock and mentioned the time to Aaron and Embry. "We have to go." He reminded. Aaron sighed and rubbed my back soothingly while I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Go where?" I asked, not wanting Aaron to leave. Aaron tensed up, but he quickly relaxed.

He replied, "We have to get to work. Sam's expecting us." I nodded. If Aaron had to work, I would understand that. I would be fine on my own.

"Okay," I declared. "Y'all go ahead and go. I'm sure Emily, Hannah and I will be fine." The other two girls nodded as though to prove my point. Paul sat down next to me and put a hand on my arm.

"Are you sure?" he asked softly. "I can explain to Sam why we were late if you want." I looked over to him and smiled. I gave him a hug in appreciation. He really cared about me. I thought I heard a growl in the background, but I ignored it. It must just be my head playing tricks on me.

"Na, I wouldn't want you to get in trouble. I'll be fine, and if something new happens, I'll be sure to call one of you and let you know." Paul seamed unsure, but he didn't push the point. Aaron and Paul got up and the three boys headed out the door.

Aaron paused, gave me a hug, and whispered, "Be safe." I smiled and hugged him back. The three started walking down the street saying they didn't have that far to go, so they wouldn't need the car. I went back inside and faced Emily and Hannah.

"Let's get to work," I told them both. "I want to find out what's wrong with me before they get back. It's been almost a week, and I just know Aaron is almost on the breaking point." The two girls nodded, and we sat down in the kitchen trying to think up possible solutions.

"We could just take you to the doctor," Hannah suggested. "They can run some tests and try to figure out what's wrong." Emily nodded.

She replied, "That sounds like a good idea. That way we can find out even if nothing is wrong." I thought about it and bit my lip.

"That is a good idea, but Aaron and I don't have the money for a doctor's visit."

"But we don't really have any better ideas if you want to figure out what's wrong before anyone comes back," Hannah reminded. "There's got to be something we can do." Emily sat up, suddenly remembering something.

She ran out of the room and came back a few moments later with a cookie jar in hand. She explained, "I've been saving up money for a long time now. I have plenty to cover a doctor's visit." I shook my head rapidly.

"I could never do that," I protested. "I couldn't use your money." Emily smiled kindly at me and put a hand on my shoulder.

She replied, "Allie, you're like a daughter to me, and I would take my own daughter to the doctor's if she spent a good part of the morning for the past few days throwing up with no possible explanation. I'm going to use my money." I sighed at Emily's resolve. I didn't think there was a way to change her mind.

"Okay," I gave in. "But I'm going to pay you back eventually." Emily and Hannah both chuckled lightly. The three of us bundled up since it was cold outside and headed out to Emily's car after she wrote a note letting anyone that came by know we went out for a little while. As we were leaving, Kim showed up.

"Where are you going?" she asked curiously. She walked over to the three of us standing outside Emily's car.

Emily explained, "Allie got sick this morning again, so we decided to go to the doctor's to make sure everything is okay." Kim gasped and looked at me.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah," I replied. "But we still want to check and make sure. You want to come?" Kim nodded.

She answered, "Of course I do! Come on. If we want to get back before the guys do, we better leave fast."

The four of us piled into Emily's car and drove off towards the hospital. When we arrived, we asked for an appointment, and the people there were kind enough to give us one about five minutes from the time we arrived even though it was last minute. When they called me back, Emily went with me, and Hannah and Kim waited in the lobby. Emily and I were waiting in a tiny room when the doctor finally arrived. He was tall, slightly pale, and pretty handsome. He appeared to be about forty, which I suppose was an appropriate age for a doctor. He smiled kindly at me and Emily.

"Hello… Alliena. My name is Dr. Summers," he greeted. "What seams to be the issue today? It was only by chance the appointment I had scheduled for right now canceled about ten minutes ago."

I smiled back at Dr. Summers and replied, "Nice to meet you Dr. Summers. I thank you for seeing me on such late notice." Dr. Summers shook his head.

"It's no problem. That's what doctors are for. To take care of others." I nodded in agreement.

"I completely agree with you Dr. Summers. Well, anyway, the reason I'm here is because this morning I got really sick. I've actually been really sick for the past few days, but no one can seam to think of why." Dr. Summers looked me over real fast.

"You do seam awfully pale. Have you eaten anything weird or done anything out of the normal recently?" I tried to think of what I'd been doing these past few days. Nothing came to mind that could explain me getting sick.

I shook my head and replied, "No, I've been doing the same thing and eating the same things for the past few weeks. Nothing that would explain it." Dr. Summers wrote something down and nodded.

"Well," he concurred. "Let's take some blood and have a urine test to see if anything comes up. Okay?" I nodded. Dr. Summers led Emily and me through the hospital into another room. I went into the bathroom and peed into the little cup then had some blood drawn. Having blood drawn always freaked me out. I can handle people bleeding and seeing things like that, but if I see a needle or someone being cut, I lose it.

Once we were all done, Dr. Summers said we could go back home, and he would call if anything showed in the results. He said to expect a call no later than tomorrow afternoon.

Emily paid the woman at the front desk, and all four of us left.

"What did he say?" Hannah asked worriedly.

"He said he would call if he found anything," Emily replied. "This means that until Sunday, one of us four must make sure we answer the phone whenever it rings. We wouldn't want something terrible to be wrong and one of the boys finds out first." We all nodded in agreement. It really would be terrible if something was wrong with me and Aaron found out first. I'd be on house arrest forever without even knowing why.

We got back to Sam and Emily's and all went into the living room. We were sitting around talking when the door burst open. In came Sam, Paul, and Aaron. We could all hear Aaron sigh in relief when he saw I was okay and happy sitting in the living room. He came over and sat in the floor next to the chair I was sitting in.

"How was y'alls day? Anything exciting happen?" I shook my head.

"Nothing extremely wonderful. You?" He shrugged.

"Not really. Same old, same old." I nodded even though I had no idea what the 'same old' was, but I didn't care. At that moment, the phone rang. My eyes widened at the possibility it could be Dr. Summers with news. Sam was closest to the phone and started towards it. Hannah was up in an instant, however, and somehow got to the phone before he did. She smiled innocently at him.

"Sorry," she replied. "I'm expecting a call." Sam narrowed his eyes.

"To my house?" Hannah was unsure as what to say, Emily suddenly chimed in to help her.

"Yes," Emily replied. Sam turned to her. "We had to give a number, and since we're over here a lot, I recommended that she give this one. You don't mind do you?" Emily gave her biggest puppy dog eyes to Sam I'd ever seen. Even I would have given her anything she wanted.

Sam sighed and walked away from the phone. Hannah smiled an appreciative smile at Emily and said hello into the receiver. After enough time went by for the other person to introduce themselves, Hannah took the phone outside and shut the door. I glanced over at Emily who looked to Kim who looked back to me. We all thought it must be Dr. Summers.

"What's up with Hannah?" Aaron asked, noticing the exchange we three girls gave. I looked over to him and smiled.

"Nothing," I replied. "She just wanted some privacy to talk. Don't you ever want privacy without people listening in to what you're saying?" Aaron watched me suspiciously. He could always tell when I was lying or just not telling the whole truth. Before he could object, Hannah reentered the house. All six of us turned to look at her. Her normally pale pink face was even paler, and the phone hung loosely at her side. She was only a fraction of her normal self. Whatever she'd heard on that phone, it was not good.

"Hey Emily, can I speak with you?" she asked softly. Emily nodded and hurriedly went over to her. Sam and Aaron started to get up and follow them, but Emily held out a hand to stop them.

"No," she replied. "You guys stay. If it's something you need to know, we'll tell you. Until then, please give us the privilege of speaking without you hearing." The two stopped walking toward them, but they didn't sit back down. However, when Emily and Hannah went back outside, they didn't follow.

When the door shut, Aaron looked back to Kim and I who were now seated together on the couch. He narrowed his eyes at us.

"What's going on?" he inquired. "You're all acting strange. Did something happen?" I looked to Kim who was watching me.

"No," I replied after a while. "Nothing is wrong." Aaron didn't believe me, but he didn't push it. About five minutes later, Emily and Hannah returned and took a seat next to Kim and me. All three of the boys were watching us carefully.

Eventually, Paul was annoyed and demanded, "Okay, you guys tell us what's going on right now. You're really freaking me out." We all stayed silent. Hannah looked up at Paul after a long moment.

She replied, "You will have to wait." He glared at her. Before anyone could inquire further, all the other guys came in. I let out a silent breath of relief. They most likely wouldn't ask anymore about it now. The rest of the night went on pretty smooth with the exception that Sam, Paul and Aaron kept watching us closely. We just ignored it though and tried to have fun talking and hanging out.

Although I was eager to find out what happened, I knew if I asked about it in front of everyone because that would gather unwanted attention. Therefore, I was forced to wait for three entire days until the four of us girls were on our way to Seattle for a shopping trip. We didn't worry about it on the way there or while we were there. We just worried about having fun and buying clothes. I even found a cute little stuffed wolf for Paul since he said his favorite animal was a wolf.

"That's sweet," Hannah said when I told her about it. "I think Allie has a little crush." I blushed and turned aside.

"I do not! I just… He's been really nice to me since we met, and I wanted to give him something to show my thanks." Hannah rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah? Then why didn't you get something for Embry? Or Sam? Or Jacob? Why JUST Paul? Oh I know! Because you like him!" I glared at Hannah.

"I do not!" I exclaimed. I have to admit, I kind of had a crush on him, but I didn't want Hannah going around mocking me about it.

"Allie and Pauly sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" I hit her in the shoulder.

"Nock it off!" I retorted. "I don't have a crush on Paul! Leave me alone about it." Hannah held up hands up in surrender.

She gave, "All right, I won't tease you about it, but I'll tell you this, you aren't fooling me. I know your secret." I rolled my eyes. We went back over where Emily and Kim were. After about another hour, we paid for our things and left.

It was as we were driving back to La Push that Emily brought up what happened the other night.

"It had been Dr. Summers," she began. "He said they'd found something in the tests." I was leaning forward in my seat, waiting for what he'd said.

"What did he say?" Kim asked, as eager, and nervous, for the answer as I. Hannah turned her head aside and looked out the window. The entire car felt ice cold.

Eventually, Emily whispered, "Allie, you're pregnant." Chills ran up my arms.

"What?" I gasped out. "How? I don't understand…" Then it him me. Five weeks ago. In the ally. With Jayden. That's when. That's how.

I burst into tears. Kim leaned over next to me and embraced me in a hug. Hannah was crying silently, and Emily stayed silent as I wept. I cried the entire way home. I didn't want to be pregnant. I didn't want this. I was only sixteen! I was too young to have a child.

When we pulled into the driveway, we all stayed in the car until I managed to stop crying. Hannah and Kim helped me out of the car while Emily unlocked the front door. They took me in and took me to my room. I fell onto the bed and just laid there.

"We won't tell anyone," Emily said from the door way. "Unless you want us to." I sat up and shook my head.

"No," I said softly. "I'll tell them. I'll tell them later tonight." Emily nodded and shut the door. While sitting on the bed alone, I started crying once more. I laid down against the pillows and wailed into them. I heard the door creak open and close. Someone crawled into the bed next to me and wrapped their arms around me. I didn't know who it was, but I knew it was one of the boys because of the unusual body heat. I didn't care who. I just curled into them and continued to cry until I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was still in the warm arms. My back was against them though. I looked over at the clock. 7:48pm. I sighed and turned to look at who was holding me. I smiled when I saw Paul's sleeping face. He must have been the one who held me when I cried. He was so sweet! He didn't even know why I was crying, yet he soothed me. I carefully examined him while he was sleeping. He face was so much calmer and gentler when he was asleep. His eyebrows weren't drawn together quite as harshly, and his face was relaxed. I looked down at his chest. It was amazingly toned! He could probably lift a car up with one hand and still have strength to spare!

His arms were big and strong, but not too big like someone on steroids. Rather, he was just strong enough to intimidate guys who came around him. When I was in his arms, it was like I fit perfectly. Although he was a lot bigger than me, it's like we were made for each other. A ball in a glove.

About five minutes after I woke up, he began stirring. When he opened his eyes, I smiled up at him. He smiled back.

"Hey," he said softly with a scratchy voice. "You feel better?" I nodded.

"Yes," I replied. "Thanks to you. You didn't have to stay with me that whole time." Paul smirked.

He explained, "I did. It hurt me so much to hear you crying. I just had to come and try to comfort you." I smiled wider and hugged him.

"I'm glad you did." He hugged me back. We stayed like that for what felt like forever. Eventually, I pulled away and said I needed to get up. Reluctantly, he got up and waited for me to brush out my messy hair before we went out to the living room. Jared, Kim, Emily, Sam, Aaron, Hannah, Quil, Jacob, and Embry were all there. Emily was in the kitchen while Sam sat at the bar. Aaron was sitting in one of the chairs with Hannah on the floor next to him. Jared was holding Kim in another chair. Quil and Jacob were sitting at the bar with Sam, and Embry was sitting on one side of the couch.

When Paul and I walked in, I couldn't help but feel like they were all watching us with disapproval. More specifically, watching Paul with disapproval. The two of us walked over to the couch. Paul sat in the corner of the couch while I sat down next to him and Embry.

Everyone watched me carefully. I smiled at everyone, trying to ease the obvious tension. I caught Kim trying to say something out of the corner of my eye. She was mouthing something to me, but I couldn't tell what. After a few desperate moments of trying to tell me without letting the guys notice, Kim gave up.

She just said straight out, "Tell them." Everyone looked to Kim for a moment then back to me.

"Tell us what?" Aaron demanded, narrowing his eyes. He looked around the room for a moment before looking back at me. "We know you girls have been keeping something from us, and we know it must be big for y'all to keep it for this long." My eyes widened.

"How did y'all know we were hiding something?"

Sam replied, "It's in our genes. We know when something is up." I looked back at him.

"So what is it?" Aaron demanded once more, recapturing my attention. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I still couldn't fully accept the fact I was pregnant. How did I expect me telling them to make it any better?

Support, my inner self told me. I want support to be able to get through this terrible time that's about to engulf me.

We all sat in an uneasy silence for a long time. Eventually, I whispered so softly I couldn't even hear myself, "I'm pregnant." Everyone froze.

"Say again?" Embry said quietly from next to me. I looked over at his dark mysterious eyes that captured me. I wasn't sure what, but something about his eyes mesmerized me. I couldn't, and didn't want, to look away.

I repeated a little louder but still soft, "I'm pregnant." Everything was silent. I remembered back to my dream about the Wolf Embry. The way he had looked so sad when the other Allie ran away. He looked almost like he did then, but this time in real life. Aaron was in shock.

"What…" he stumbled. "Is this for real?" I nodded ever so solemnly.

"Yes. We found out the other day. Everyone was worried about me being so sick, so we went to the doctor, and he took some tests. Honestly this was the last thing I expected." Tears escaped my dry eyes. "I don't want this." Aaron put his head in his hands and shook his head. Hannah reached up and gently put a hand on his arm.

As soon as she did, Aaron jumped up with blazing eyes and began to yell, "I'm going to kill that bastard!" I gasped slightly.

"Who?" I croaked. Aaron looked down at me. The anger in his eyes took me back to that day when I was nine; the day he disappeared for a month after threatening mom and dad. I hated that look.

"That punk Jayden! It's his fault this happened!" This time, Hannah gasped.

"Aaron," Sam interrupted with a voice filled with authority. "Either calm down or go outside. You're scaring Hannah and Allie." Aaron looked down at Hannah's trembling shape then up to my cowering one. Almost instantly, he relaxed tremendously.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. "I'm just so angry about this." Aaron just stood there, motionless, after that. His eyes were clenched shut, and he was shaking in anger. Aaron wasn't the only one shaking though. Both Paul and Embry were shaking in anger as well. It actually frightened me to see them like this.

I think Sam noticed because he came up from behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him, and he motioned for me to get up. I started to stand, but someone grabbed me and pinned me back down against the couch. I looked over my shoulder to see Paul holding me firmly in place. He was shaking even more furiously than before.

"Paul," Sam warned. "Let her go." He didn't.

"He hurt her," he whispered angrily. "I let her go with him, and he hurt her." The way Paul was acting terrified me. I really just wanted to get away from him. It felt like he was going to hurt me if I stayed near him right now.

"Paul," Sam repeated. "Let her go, now." Something about Sam's voice changed. It's like it took on an entirely new meaning. Paul shook even more viciously, as though he was fighting to stay in control. Sam looked over at Aaron who, at least it sounded like, had started growling. Aaron's eyes were trained on Paul as though at any moment, things would turn worse than they were. Aaron was shaking slightly, but not nearly as bad as Paul. Not yet at least.

This time, Aaron spoke up, "Paul, you give her to me now." Paul held me tighter against him. He was holding me so tightly, I could barely breathe. "Paul," Aaron exclaimed louder. "Give Allie to me." Paul opened his eyes and looked up at Aaron. It appeared almost, from the angle I was at, that Paul's eyes were red.

I think Aaron noticed too, because almost instantaneously, Aaron launched at Paul. He pulled me from Paul and threw me aside into Embry. Embry was still shaking, but not bad enough for Sam not to be able to pull me away from him and hand me off to Emily. Emily ushered me into the kitchen while Jared and Jacob pulled an angry Aaron and Paul away from each other. Kim and Hannah rushed around the fighting and past Sam into the kitchen. Sam and Seth were standing in front of us girls in case the fight started this way. It terrified me to see Paul and Aaron fight. They were vicious. Eventually, they had calmed down enough to at least understand what people said to them.

Sam walked over to where Paul and Aaron were and glared at them while yelling, "Are you both insane! You almost really hurt Allie and ruined my home! If you're going to act like this, leave and don't come back until you're calmed all the way down. I understand you're both upset about what happened, but fighting each other won't help anyone. Do you understand?!" Neither of them replied.

Paul pulled himself away from Jacob who was restraining him, snarled at Aaron, and left the house, slamming the door hard behind him. I wanted to run after him, but Emily held me back. When she grabbed my arm, I cringed. She noticed and rolled up my sleeve. On my upper arm, a big purple and green bruise was developing. I didn't know if it was from Paul holding me down or Aaron pushing me aside roughly.

Once sure he was calm, Jared released Aaron. Sam was still glaring at Aaron who easily glared back. He looked past Sam into the kitchen at me. His face softened slightly, but not much. He went past Sam and toward the kitchen. Before he could enter it, however, Seth, Sam, and Jared were in front of him, preventing him from passing. He glared at them harshly.

"Give me Allie," he demanded. "I'm taking her." Sam, who was directly in front of Aaron, narrowed his eyes.

"You'll hurt her," Sam retorted. "You need to calm down before you see her." Aaron grew angrier.

He spat back, "I've been angrier than tonight before, and never once have I come close to hurting Allie. You either give her to me, or I take her." Although he'd absolutely terrified me when he fought with Paul, he was still my brother. I trusted him before anyone else.

Sam opened his mouth to reply, but I interrupted him, "Aaron." Everyone looked to me. "I want to go with you." Aaron smirked cockily in Sam's face who glared back. I slowly walked out of the kitchen, around the three boys, and to Aaron who wrapped me in his arms. He held me tight, but not tight enough to hurt me.

Before we moved, Sam warned, "We will not help you until you return calm and with an apology." Aaron smirked.

He replied, "I'll apologize now. I overreacted, but I don't want your help. I'll be back in the morning. That's my shift right?" Sam gritted his teeth and nodded slowly. It appeared Sam was having trouble controlling his own anger as well.

Aaron pulled me out of the house and toward his truck which was parked out front. Embry stepped out onto the porch and watched as Aaron loaded me into the passenger side. Embry called out, "Hey Aaron." Aaron looked back from the open driver's door and waited to hear what he had to say. He continued, "If you hurt her, I'll kill you." Aaron smirked.

He retorted, "Like I said, I've never even come close to hurting her, and I never will." He got into the truck and drove off down the road with me safely inside.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_The sound of rushing water filled my ears. It sounded like a creak. I followed the sound until I came to a small creak, as I'd suspected. Cool mist from the little rapids cooled off my hot body. I smiled and dipped my hand into the water, but as soon as I touched it, the creak once filled with cool water turned to sand. I narrowed my eyes in confusion as the still hot sand ran through my fingers._

_I stood up and turned back to face the forest from which I emerged, but I was face to face with nothing. It wasn't even a desert. It was blank, like it had been a part of a picture erased. I walked into the nothingness. When I turned, I could still see the sand creak where I left it. I turned back to the front to keep moving, but I stopped. There in front of me, was my smiling oldest brother._

_"Hello Allie," he greeted. "I'm sorry it's been such a long while since we last spoke. I hear you have a baby on the way now. Congratulations." I scoffed._

_"I don't want your congratulation's. I didn't, and don't, want this child growing within me. It's the spawn of something evil." Austin chuckled._

_"You're right," he replied. "It is the spawn of something evil, but maybe not the evil you are thinking of. Do you have the pendent I sent you yet?" I looked down to find a pendent hanging loosely around my neck. I narrowed my eyes. I was pretty sure it was the same one I saw before in a dream._

_It had a weird symbol in the middle with some Latin words written around it. It appeared to be solid gold and was about the size of a half-dollar._

_"How'd I get this?" I asked._

_Austin smiled at me and explained, "I gave it to you. You shouldn't worry about things that appear to have no explanation. Everything reveals itself in due time." I sighed._

_"Will you explain yourself? I'm so confused. What are you?" Austin chuckled once more._

_"You're very observant," he commended. "But it's not yet time for you to know. There are other things you must learn before I can reveal myself to you, but don't worry. You only have little time left to wait for the answers you desire." I groaned in annoyance._

_After a moment, I asked, "How long is a little time? Days? Months? Years? You always did have a warped sense of time." Austin smiled warmly and came up to me. I looked up at him, still as tall as I remembered. He placed a hand on my head like he used to do when we were younger._

_"Just a couple weeks. Like I said, there are a few things you need to figure out before I see you." I huffed._

_"How am I supposed to figure these things out? I don't even know what I'm looking for." Austin chuckled while I narrowed my eyes at him._

_He replied, "All in due time. Aaron will tell you the things you need to know. Aaron and Embry." Austin smiled as though in thought. "He's a good boy. Strong, loyal, and kind. He'll take good care of you someday." I was confused._

_"I don't understand," I murmured. "What does Embry have to do with any of this?" Austin smiled down at me and patted my head. He turned around and started to walk away. I panicked._

_"Wait!" He stopped. "You've left me with more questions than I started." He turned back. When our eyes met, I gasped. I hadn't noticed before, but his eyes were crimson red. I don't think they were like that before._

_He replied, "You started with no questions." I narrowed my eyes in frustration._

_"That's not true. I had questions before you appeared to me. Like where you are. Why you keep appearing in my dreams, if they're dreams. Can you tell me nothing?" Austin shook his head._

_"I've told you too much already. If it's a closing you desire, which I think to be the case, I'll tell you this. Keep firm hold of the necklace I gave you. It will protect you, and try not to go anywhere alone. There's a lot about this world you don't know about yet." I scoffed._

_I retorted, "I know more than you think." Austin chuckled._

_"So you've said. As I said before, I'll be in touch in person soon. Until then, Aaron can take care of you adequately. He always did when I wasn't there." I rolled my eyes._

_"You were never there," I replied, remembering back to when I was younger. "It was always just Aaron and me." The smile Austin gave scared me slightly. It was like he was hiding something from me._

_He whispered softly, "There is much you don't know. One thing being, I was always there. You just didn't see me. I was always a more practical person, much more so than Aaron. Aaron always took things the way he saw them and tried to act instantly. I suppose that's his tragic flaw." I was confused._

_"What do you mean you were always there?" Austin sighed._

_He explained, "When father acted strange. When he would disappear for days at a time. When mother got ill. When Aaron had to leave to go up north. When they were fighting. I was always there, standing in the background, just in case. I was observing. Who do you think was the one who helped Aaron when he was sick? Who would provide for the family when father was gone? Who watched you at night to keep you safe?" I stayed silent._

_He continued, "I was always there, protecting you. Some of the things I prevented from happening would shock you. From the time I was eighteen on, I was protecting you and Aaron from the evils of the world, regardless of my nature and purpose." I was even more confused, but still said nothing. "I received so much criticism, but I was happy knowing no one could hurt you, Allie. You were safe, still are, ever so slightly. I have friends that are watching over you even now. You don't know who they are, but they're there. They're making sure everything is safe for when I come down to see you. I love you." A tear slid down my cheek._

_"I love you," I whispered back. "I always have. I missed you so much when you moved away. I felt like apart of me vanished." Austin nodded sadly._

_"I know," he replied. "And for that, I am sorry." We stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments._

_Austin broke the silence by finishing, "Anyway, I must leave you now. I've stayed far too long. I will see you soon, as I've promised, and I've never broken a promise to you. Don't lose the pendent. It will keep you safe." I nodded and grabbed onto it._

_"I promise. I do hope to see you soon." He smiled gently at me._

_"You will." He turned and vanished into the nothingness._

_I stood there, frozen in my place, for a long time, thinking over what had just happened. All of a sudden, the white nothingness began to break apart. Walls were falling in around me. I turned and ran back toward the sand river._

_When I reached it, it was water again. I looked behind me, and the nothingness was still collapsing. I carefully and quickly crossed the river and ran into the forest that had reappeared on the other side. I ran and ran with no end in sight._

_I just ran and didn't even stop to think about what was going on around me._

Morning came faster than I had expected. The light coming in through my window blinded me. I groaned and pulled my blanket over my head. I was not a morning person.

"Up and at em," Aaron bellowed. "You shouldn't waste a rare occurrence such as this." I peaked out at him from my hiding place.

"Waste what?" I croaked out. He chuckled.

He ruffled my head and replied, "It's sunny today! We get maybe one sunny day every couple months. Use it to your advantage! Go outside, play games, have fun." I sat up and rolled my eyes.

"Really? Have fun. Sounds like it'll be easy especially considering the only time I see someone besides you is in my dreams!" Aaron sighed and sat down on my bed.

Following that night with Paul, Aaron had taken me to a little secluded house just off the beach. No one came here, and when Aaron was gone, the doors and windows were bolted down and the keys were hidden. I'd been living like that for going on three weeks. I loved Aaron, and I knew he was a little protective, but I'd about had it.

"You know I only want to protect you," he muttered. I looked at him like he was stupid.

"Then let me see my friends," I exclaimed. "I miss them, and they probably miss me too. Even if the only person I see is Hannah or Emily. Just let me see SOMEONE." Aaron sighed and looked away.

After a long moment, he caved, "Fine. I'll bring Hannah over. She's been staying with Aunt Sue ever since… that time with Jayden. She complains about how she's missing you." I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"He let you?" Aaron didn't say anything right away.

Eventually, he admitted, "Kind of. Jared and Sam helped me convince him it was for the best." I rolled my eyes. Some things never change.

"When can she come over?" I inquired. Aaron thought about it for a moment.

"This afternoon. I'll leave first thing this morning to go get her." I smiled up at him and gave him a hug. He was startled, but he quickly hugged me back.

"I knew I loved you." He chuckled, almost the same way Austin did. It was a frightening similarity.

"I love you too." We pulled away and Aaron left. Thinking of Austin made me think of the dream I'd had last night. I subconsciously reached toward my neck. Nothing.

I sighed and fell back on my pillow. I really shouldn't be surprised. The dreams I had were just dreams. There wasn't anything real about them.

"Why can't I just get answers," I muttered to myself. When someone started chuckling in response, I sat up, startled, and looked around. I noticed someone standing in the corner of my room, in the shadows.

In an icy sweet voice, they spoke, "You have to ask questions to get answers." I narrowed my eyes.

"Who are you?" I demanded. "And why are you in my room? How'd you get in here?" The man chuckled.

"See! Questions. The more you ask, the more you know." When he spoke, it almost sounded like he was singing. It scared me. I glanced toward my door that was still open. Was Aaron still here or had he left already? The man saw me glance toward the door and chuckled some more. "Don't worry about your brother," he sang. "He's gone and won't be bothering us for a while." My heart pound so hard, it felt like it would explode.

"Who are you?" I whispered, terrified of the man before me. He grinned and showed his bright white teeth.

"My," he exclaimed. "You smell absolutely delicious." I swallowed hard.

"Please tell me, who are you?" The man's smile grew.

He started walking toward me and replied, "I am Raquel. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alliena." I gasped.

"How do you know my name?" Raquel's expression didn't change.

"Why, from your brother of course. He truly is a caring man, kind, strong, very protective. It's a shame he had to double cross me. He is too easy to read. I knew exactly what would hurt him. Do you know what would hurt him?" I said nothing. He chuckled and finished, "Seeing you suffering. Once I knew that, I just knew I had to find you. It wasn't that hard really. You were fun to sniff out."

Raquel was scaring me and confusing me. I didn't understand what he was talking about. Aaron wouldn't be around someone like this, and he's never double crossed someone before. There was no way this Raquel fellow was telling the truth.

I narrowed my eyes and snapped, "I don't know who you are or what you want, but I know you're lying. Aaron is a good person and would never be around someone like you!" Raquel apparently found this funny and laughed loudly.

Once he'd recovered, he replied, "Oh you are so funny! The brother I'm talking about is not Aaron. I don't hang around his kind." I scrunched my eyebrows down.

"You're talking about Austin?" Raquel chuckled shortly causing chills to rush down my spine. He walked closer to me. From where he was, I could see his glowing red eyes. I gasped which only led to more chuckling.

"You catch on so fast," he mocked. "Yes, I mean Austin. It's too bad he couldn't get to you in time. Such a pity to waste a beautiful face. I'll enjoy sucking the life out of you."

Raquel reached out to grab me, but his hand was ripped away. He was thrown back against my bedroom wall and fell to the floor. My eyes widened in shock. Someone was crouching down in front of me, like they were protecting me, but I couldn't see who it was. Raquel slowly stood back up and looked at the person in front of me. He smirked.

"Why hello. It's been too long." I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like the person in front of me growled at Raquel. His smirk dimmed slightly. "Why not say hello to Allie? I'm sure she'd be thrilled to know you're here." I glared at Raquel. He really freaked me out. However, what he said did draw my attention to the unknown person. He still hadn't turned around, so I had no way to tell who he was.

"Leave," growled out a familiar voice. "Leave and don't come back, or I will kill you." I was growing frustrated because I could not place the voice no matter how familiar it was. Raquel's smirk disappeared, replaced by a fearful frown.

"One day you won't be here to keep me from my prize. I will get my revenge," Raquel threatened. The unknown man didn't move or say anything. Raquel pushed himself slowly away from the wall. He leisurely walked around my open door and down the hall. The man in front of me remained motionless until Raquel had left the house with the door shut firmly behind him. Once Raquel was gone, the man relaxed and turned to me. I gasped when I saw who it was.

"Austin?" I questioned, wanting to make sure I wasn't mistaken. He nodded, but he wouldn't look me in the eye. "You're really here?" He didn't move. I was so overwhelmed by emotion I wrapped my arms around his neck, tears running down my face. "I've missed you." When I hugged him, he went real stiff. I couldn't help but notice that he was a lot colder than anyone else I knew: abnormally cold.

"I've missed you too," he whispered into my hair. At this moment, he hesitantly put his arm around me. "I've missed you so much Allie." I looked up at his pale face. He'd always favored mother's side of the family, getting her light complexion rather than dad's Indian heritage, but he appeared to be much paler than I remembered.

I dismissed the thought, "Where have you been? And don't tell me all this Alaska business. I know when I'm being lied to." Austin chuckled lightly. It made me happy to hear him laughing, even if only slightly.

"Do you now? Then I guess I shouldn't lie to you." I smiled up at him. He answered, "I've been to many different places. I have been in Alaska a lot of the time, but I've been to Africa, Italy, and Russia. All nice places." My eyes widened.

"Why didn't you take me?" I exclaimed. "I've always wanted to go to Italy." Austin's grin grew.

He replied, "I know, but now, and when I went, probably wouldn't be an ideal time to go. I promise, to make it up to you, I will take you to Italy one day. It'll be just me and you." I smiled even wider at my eldest brother. As I thought about what had just happened, though, my smile vanished.

"Can we talk?" I inquired. "I have some questions for you." Austin smiled sadly and nodded.

"Of course," he responded. "I also have something I'd like to give you." I led Austin into the living room, and we both sat together on the couch: me on one side; him on the other.

"Okay, first, what do you have to give me?" Austin smirked.

He reached into his pocket as he retorted, "I thought you would know by now." I watched as he pulled out a small box. He placed it carefully in my hand and drew back his own. I stared at the little silver box for a long moment before gently opening it. Inside was the pendent I'd dreamt so many times of. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thank you," I replied. "But you know this only leads to more questions." He chuckled again and nodded.

"Ask away." I pulled out the pendent and placed it around my neck.

I set the box down on the table next to me and began questioning, "How on earth did you get into the house?" Austin gave me a huge smile.

"Well," he began. "You left your window open. That's how both Raquel and I got inside." I narrowed my eyes.

"But how could I not notice either of you enter? That's not possible." Austin shook his head.

"You're right, it is not humanly possible." I opened my mouth to voice my confusion, but just closed it and shook my head.

I continued on, "How did you find my house?"

He took in a deep breath and replied, "I followed your sent." I raised an eyebrow. I knew that Austin wasn't lying to me, but he had some confusing answers.

"How could you follow my sent? I don't smell that bad, do I?" Austin chuckled.

"No," he replied. "You smell quite nice. I just have… an accelerated sense of smell. That's all." He was keeping things from me.

"Okay, why was Raquel in my house?" His face tightened.

He growled out, "Raquel thinks he can get me to do what he wants by using you. I'm not going to let him though."

"What does he want to use you for?" Austin sighed.

"It doesn't concern you. Don't worry about it." I didn't want to accept that answer, but I had no choice. He wasn't going to give me any more information about that.

Instead, I asked, "Why did you leave?" He narrowed his eyes.

"When?" he asked. I sighed and looked away.

"Nine years ago." I snapped my eyes back to him in anger. "I haven't seen you in nine years. I haven't seen you, heard from you, or had any indication that you were even still alive in nine years!" I closed my eyes as a tear escaped. I whispered, "You didn't even call when mom and dad died." He looked away.

"Allie," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I was trying to protect you and Aaron, but I suppose that by doing so I forgot you would still need to see me." Tears freely fell.

I looked back up at him with shady eyes. "I was six," I whispered. "Dad was never around, Mom was constantly sick, Aaron was only eleven. You left us with no one. You were the only one we had to rely on, and you left." Austin appeared to be close to tears. "Why did you leave? What was so important you had to leave us alone?"

He moved over and pulled me into a hug. I leaned into his chest like I had so long ago when he tried to consol me.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have. I was just scared to be around you. I was so scared I would hurt you." I looked up at him.

"How," I whimpered. "How could you ever hurt me?" Someone interrupted us.

"Because he's a monster." I looked to the door to see an angry Aaron standing there. Austin held me close to him. I was shocked. I'd never seen Aaron so angry before in my life, and it was all aimed at Austin.

"What?" I muttered. "Austin's our brother. How can you say something like that!?" Aaron's eyes were trained solely on our older brother.

He growled in response, "You don't know what his kind do. He's a murderer!" Austin glared back at Aaron.

"You are wrong," Austin snapped back. "I'm learning different ways. I'm a different person than you knew nine years ago." Aaron scoffed.

"Is that so," he retorted. "In my experience, a leach is a leach. They don't change." Austin's expression softened.

He whispered, "That's where you're wrong. People can change their ways."

Aaron growled out, "You are no person."

"I am just as much a person as you," Austin yelled back. "I would be just like you had this not happened. It's not my fault." Aaron narrowed his eyes even deeper.

"No," he agreed. "It's not your fault, but that doesn't mean you have to continue to try and involve yourself with our lives! I've spared you many times before. Why should I now?" Austin smiled sadly.

He whispered softly, "I saved Allie." Aaron's harshness melted off his face with those three words.

"What?" he murmured, almost in unbelief. Austin repeated himself.

"I saved Allie. There was a man here by the name of Raquel. He was going to kill her before I stepped in. If not for me, Allie would be dead right now." That startled me, but I wasn't about to get in the middle of this. I might just make things worse.

Aaron closed his eyes tight and clenched his fists. I didn't know what between these two had gone wrong a while back, but whatever it was, it ran deep.

He uttered to Austin through clenched teeth, "What is it you want here?" Austin smiled and gave me a small squeeze.

"I want to be with my sister." His eyes popped open.

"That's out of the question," Aaron snapped. Austin smirked.

He replied, "I don't want to take her with me. I just want to be around her. Because of me, there are going to be people like Raquel after her; many much more dangerous than he." He bit his lower lip. "I want to be here to protect her." Aaron snorted.

"Trust me, I am more than enough protection." Austin rolled his eyes.

"Yes, and I'm the state governor," he mocked. Aaron growled. "Aaron, if you want to keep her safe, you are going to need my help. I'll talk to Sam if that would do you any good. If he just spoke with me, heard me out, I'm sure he would agree with me." Aaron glared more fiercely at Austin.

"Sam is not the decision maker on this. Even if he said yes, I say no." Austin sighed and shook his head.

"You don't understand," he muttered. "There is much you do not understand."

"I understand enough." Austin sighed once more. He stood up, pulling me up with him, which caused Aaron to growl. He rolled his eyes.

"Oh calm down little brother," he exclaimed. "You always did have such a short temper." Aaron started to launch toward us. "Ah, ah, ah…" Austin turned so I wouldn't be impacted if Aaron continued. He didn't, however, when he noticed me. "You'd hurt Allie." Aaron glared at Austin more fiercely than before.

"Let her go," Aaron demanded. "And leave." Austin sighed and did the tsk thing he would do when we were younger.

"Aaron, where are your manners? Do you never say please?" Aaron said nothing in reply. Austin turned his attention to me. He smiled warmly at me, putting my fearful heart at ease.

"Don't worry," he whispered to me. "I'll see you again." He let me go, but I grabbed his arm.

"You're leaving?" I cried out. "Why?" Austin smiled sadly at me and put his hand on my cheek.

He replied, "Only for a little while. I promise you will see me again soon." His eyes flickered down to the pendent hanging around my neck. He smiled at me once more. "Stay safe." He started to walk away once more, but I let him go this time. He smiled at Aaron as he passed him. They were both the exact same height.

"Goodbye little brother," he said lightly. "Take care of Allie for me, will you?" Aaron just growled as Austin vanished through the door.

Aaron looked to me. "How did he get in here?" I gulped lightly. Aaron was scaring me.

"He said he came in through my window. I guess… I left it open this morning," I replied. Aaron was still growling under his breath. I didn't think he would hurt me, but he was still scaring me a lot.

"Aaron," I whispered. I think he was able to pick up on my fear, for he stopped growling and sighed.

He ran a hand through his hair as he mumbled, "I'm sorry. Austin just makes me tense." His eyes popped back to mine. "I want you to stay away from him." I narrowed my eyes.

"But why?" I questioned. "Austin's my brother too." Aaron growled.

"That monster isn't our brother any more. The brother we once knew is gone." I glared at Aaron. I loved Austin and hated seeing Aaron talk bad about him like that.

I stood up off the couch and yelled back, "That's not true! I don't know what your problem is, but you've been keeping secrets from me. Lots of them. I've tried to ignore it, but I can't anymore. Either you tell me what you've been hiding, or I'm leaving." Aaron's eyes widened in shock. He glared more fiercely at me and started shaking.

He yelled, "You are not! I don't have to tell you anything, and there is nothing you can do about it. I don't care what you say, there is not a single thing you can do without my permission, do you get that?!" I was shocked and scared. Aaron had gotten mad before, but he'd never treated me like that. I nodded slowly and sat back down, holding my arms tightly. Noticing his blunder, Aaron sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He walked over and sat down on the couch next to me. It seamed like he was finally calming down.

"Allie, there's something we need to talk about." I refused to look at him.

"What might that be?" Aaron took a few deep breaths and chewed on his lips like he was nervous.

He took a deep breath and said in one fail swoop, "I'm not human." I scoffed.

"Then what are you," I replied. "An alien?" It sounded like Aaron growled, but I wasn't sure.

"Allie I'm serious," he snapped. "I'm not human. I'm a shape shifter." I was super confused and pretty sure Aaron was crazy.

"Uh-huh," I muttered wiping away my tears. "And what, pray I ask, do you shift into?" Aaron tightened his jaw.

He mumbled under his breath, "A wolf."

"Okay," I stuttered out slowly. "It's not that I don't believe you, but can you show me some proof? This is just a lot to believe off hear-say." Aaron sighed once again.

He replied, "I can, but you have to promise you won't get too scared and run away. Promise?" I thought about this entire thing. Either Aaron was finally telling the truth and he was some mythical werewolf type being, or he had gone completely insane and I was going to have to report him to the authorities.

"Okay," I confirmed unsurely. "I promise I won't run away." Aaron studied my expression for a long moment before nodding to himself. He stood up and walked out in front of me. He stopped once he was in the middle of the living room. He looked around, took a deep breath, and then stripped down to his underwear. I raised an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged and explained, "The shift destroys the clothing you're wearing. I don't want my shirt and pants to get torn up." I nodded once, kind of understanding his logic.

Aaron took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A few moments later, he changed into a giant brown wolf. My eyes widened in disbelief. Aaron had been telling the truth. Instinct took over as I started trembling. I covered my stomach to protect my unborn child. My eyes grew wide with fear and I tried to back as far away from the deadly creature before me. Even though in my heart I knew it was Aaron, my mind was screaming at me to get away. I promised, though, that I wouldn't run away.

I built up courage within me and slowly stood up from the couch. Aaron didn't move anything except his eyes. Without a word, I slowly backed out of the living room and into my bedroom, never taking my eyes off the horse-size wolf that was my brother.

I had my head buried between my knees that were drawn up to my chest and held firm with my arms as I sat on my bed as far away from the door as I could. No matter what I did to block it out, however, the knocking persisted.

"Allie," came Aaron's desperate voice. "Please open the door." I pulled my knees further into my chest and closed my eyes tight. Aaron begged, "Please Allie, just talk to me. I'll do anything just for you to speak to me."

After Aaron told me the truth about him being a wolf, I'd locked myself in my room for a week with the window shut and locked, the door bolted down, and not leaving for anything. I had a bathroom attached to my room, so I didn't have to worry there, and I was far too shocked and slightly scared to worry about eating. My seclusion was worrying Aaron though. I felt bad about the entire ordeal because I had promised him that I wouldn't get scared and run away. I did get scared, but I didn't really run away. I'm just hiding.

"Allie," he exclaimed. "You have to come out of there! If you don't I'll…" Aaron paused as though he was thinking of an appropriate threat. "I'll break down the door!" he finished. He wouldn't. I knew. Even if he did, I would refuse to go with him anywhere, refuse to eat, and refuse to speak. He knew as well as I did he had to wait until I was ready or he'd lose me longer. I heard him sigh in surrender and walk away.

I hadn't gotten much sleep after Aaron changed into a wolf. I kept having nightmares about a giant wolf chasing me through the forest then attacking me. I hated myself for having those dreams. I knew that Aaron would never hurt me at all, but the idea of it all frightened me.

While I'd been locked in my room, I'd been thinking about everyone else. Sam, Seth, Embry, Jared, Collin, Jacob, Brady, Quil, Leah, and even Paul were all like Aaron in almost everything. When they got angry, they shook. Even when they weren't sick, they were always super hot-skinned. They had amazing senses, and they all had a weird job schedule with Sam which, I suspect, has something to do with the whole wolf thing.

That also got me thinking about what Austin had to do with everything. Aaron said that he didn't like Austin's kind, but what did that mean? He called him a leach, but Austin said he'd changed. When I hugged Austin, he had been really cold, so I don't think he was a wolf too, but I had a feeling he wasn't all human either. A tear fell down my cheek in frustration.

"I just want someone to talk to," I whispered so softly I couldn't even hear myself.

A familiar voice came from the other side of my locked door, "You can talk to me." My head snapped up. It was Austin.

Putting all my previous questions and fears aside, I jumped up and ran to the door. I quickly unlocked and opened it. When my eyes landed on my eldest brother standing before me, tears filled my eyes. Suddenly, I reached forward and embraced him. He hugged me back and slowly walked be back into my room. Once we were inside, he shut the door.

"Oh Austin, I'm so glad you're here," I exclaimed through my weeping. "I'm so confused." Austin shushed me and held me tighter to him.

He whispered into my hair, "I know you are. Just stop crying, and I'll do my best to answer all the questions I know you have. It's time your eyes are opened." I looked up into Austin's honey-brown eyes. Like Aaron, and yet more so, I trusted Austin no matter what. I would believe anything he told me and go to him first.

After a few moments, I did manage to stop crying. Austin let me go, and we both sat down on my bed. For a while, we just sat in silence, and it wasn't an awkward kind. Unlike others, this silence we were experiencing was one of peace and just a mutual happiness. It relaxed me to feel one like that.

"So," Austin started out after a while. "What would you like to know?" I thought about it for a moment. I decided to ask questions in the order of most importance.

"What are you?" I inquired boldly. Austin smiled at me in a way that put me at ease.

He replied so bluntly, it was almost unbelievable, "I'm a vampire." Instead of being terrified like I was when Aaron told me his secret, which I probably should have been at this new news, I was strangely calm when Austin told me what he was.

"Why am I so calm?" I asked confused. Austin chuckled.

He explained, "I brought a friend with me here. He's in the living room with Aaron right now. He has the ability to control emotions, so I felt he would be able to keep you calm while we had this discussion. Later after everything is out in the open, I could introduce you to him if you'd like." I gulped at the thought. If Austin was a vampire, his friend probably was as well. I'm not sure if I was ready for that.

"Maybe," I replied eventually. Austin smiled back at me.

"Fair enough," he commented. "Another question?"

I thought for a moment before asking, "Are the others, Sam, Seth, Embry, Jared, Collin, Jacob, Brady, Quil, Leah, and Paul, are they… wolves too?" Austin nodded.

"They are. All together the eleven of them make up a pack with Sam as the alpha. Jacob is second in charge." I nodded. With the way they all acted around each other, that leadership arrangement made sense. Sam and Jacob normally seamed like they were taking the lead.

Next question, "Why does Aaron hate you?" That one made Austin falter. I don't think he really expected that one.

He sighed and explained, "Aaron doesn't hate me. He hates what I am. You see, werewolves and vampires have long hated each other as enemies. The coven that lives over in Forks is able to reside off the reservation because of a treaty the wolves and they made a long time ago. Even with the treaty, the two groups still fight and hate each other. The wolves think vampires are evil, and the vampires hate the wolves for trying to kill them. It's a lose-lose situation." In a weird way, that made sense.

I continued, "Why do Aaron and Paul and everyone get angry so easily? It's kind of scary sometimes." Austin nodded.

"I know it can be scary for you, but understand none of them would ever hurt you. They all love you so much and would hate to see something bad happen to you." I nodded. He continued, "Anger is one of the big triggers for werewolves. When they get angry, they begin to shake which signals that they're getting close to changing. Most of the time, unless they're really angry, they can control it though and stop themselves." I nodded.

"Here's a biggy," I forewarned. Austin chuckled and smiled.

"I'm ready. Throw it at me."

I let out a deep breath and asked, "Do you drink blood?" Austin sighed.

"I thought you might eventually ask that. To answer you strait out, yes. I do." Before I could overreact, Austin continued, "But it's not the way you think. For the past several years I've been learning how to control myself and feed off animals when necessary. However, I have an 'ability,' if you want to call it that, which allows me to go months without feeding." That sort of made sense.

I tried to think of what else I wanted to know. Austin was here willing to answer anything I wanted to know, and I was having trouble thinking of questions. Something about this situation screamed 'typical Allie.'

"How did you become… a… you know?" I eventually asked too nervous to even say the word. Austin didn't seam offended.

He explained, "It happened nine years ago one night when I was away on a business trip in Alaska. I'd been working late that night with associates to try and close a deal. I was only on the trip to try and get more money in the first place. We had been going through a tough time financially, so I was trying to help out.

"While I was walking, there was a guy standing near an ally way. He stopped me and asked if I could help him move some furniture. I don't know why he would have asked me, and now, looking back, I should have said I had some place to be and moved on. I didn't though." As Austin was explaining, he clenched his fists in anger.

"The man beat me to the point of death and robbed me. Luckily, a group of teenagers were walking by around that same time and found me lying in the ally. I was taken to the emergency room. No one knew who I was because the guy had taken my wallet, and no matter what they tried to do, everyone felt I was a helpless case. There was a doctor there working as a visiting surgeon to teach new methods who didn't give up hope on me. The man's name was Carlisle Cullen.

"He began to try and repair the damage that had been done to my body, but it was extensive. I would have needed a miracle to survive. When Carlisle realized that, he did the only other thing he could think of. He asked me if I wanted to live. What I had to live for." I didn't know if vampires could cry, but if they could, I knew Austin would be bawling.

He continued, "I told him I couldn't die. I said that if I died, my little brother and sister would end up dying too. He asked if I would be willing to give up my humanity to continue living. When I said yes, he bit into my neck. It started burning like fire. What Carlisle had done was put venom into my veins. After he did that, he took me back to his home and kept me there while I changed into a vampire. When I woke up, he explained what happened, and I left."

I was confused. "Why did you leave?" Austin's smile was gone.

He looked to me and answered, "I didn't believe he was telling the truth, so I went to check on you. I didn't know how long I'd been gone and wanted to make sure you were okay. As I was going back, however, I made a huge mistake. I… I accidently killed someone in Tennessee. They had fallen and were bleeding and I couldn't control myself. After that happened, I realized that what Carlisle had told me was true. I went back up to Seattle, found Carlisle again, and asked him what I was supposed to do. That's when I called and said I was moving. Over the past nine years, I've moved around with Carlisle and his family, learned to control myself, and became almost the exact same man you used to know. I'm just a super Austin now though." I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Super Austin?" I mocked. "Really?" He laughed, which I joined in on. After we both stopped laughing, he nodded.

"Really." We sat there smiling at each other for a while longer. I heard the floor creak from outside my room which reminded me to the fact that Aaron was still out there. My smile disappeared. Austin noticed my change.

He whispered, "Allie, you know he loves you." I nodded.

"I know," I whispered back. "I'm just shaken up. It's not that I don't trust him anymore it's just… seeing him as a wolf terrified me. I know that I should be scared of you too, but you still look like you. Thinking back over the past few years as Aaron has changed not only his looks but his personality. I'm surprised I wasn't able to figure it out sooner. I knew something was up I just… tried to overlook it. Knowing now I just… I really just need time to think and relax. I just don't think I can with Aaron constantly hovering over me and if I saw the other members of the… pack I don't think I'd be able to relax then either knowing they aren't what they appear to be." Austin just listened to me which was so helpful. I don't think I can remember the last time I had someone who could just listen.

When I finished, Austin replied, "I understand what you're getting at, and I have a proposition for you." I was curious.

"What is it?" I inquired. Austin smiled.

"Come live with me." My eyes widened in shock. I'd never thought about living with Austin before, but now it was an option set before me.

"What?" I asked in shock. I'm not sure I actually could believe what he said.

He chuckled and repeated, "Come live with me. I just moved back in with Carlisle and his family when I got back from Alaska. I talked with him about the idea just in case I thought you might need to get away, and he said he's fine with it. So again, I say, come live with me."

I thought for a moment about what Austin was saying meant. I could pack up my things and live with him –and his vampire friends- until I felt that I was ready to face Aaron again, or I could stay with Aaron –and his werewolf friends- and not know what the future might hold for me. I sighed and rubbed my head.

Aaron would hate the idea, and the other's I've come to know and love probably would too. However, the more I thought about it, the more appealing the idea sounded. I was obviously more relaxed around Austin, so why not. I smiled up at my elder brother.

"Okay," I said firmly. "I'll go live with you." As soon as I said that, I was able to hear the front door slam shut. I narrowed my eyes. "What was that?" Austin sighed.

He replied, "Aaron. I told him the idea, and he said it was up to you, but he really wanted you to say no." I felt slightly downhearted I'd made Aaron upset, but I knew that what I was doing was the right choice. Besides, I was ready to see people I wasn't related to again.

I locked eyes with Austin. "I want to go with you." Austin smiled widely at me.

"Then let's get packing."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Standing in the driveway of my new home was a terrifying feeling I'd come accustom to. Over the past year I'd moved into four different homes, all times for reasons I disliked and wished didn't exist. Still, standing in this new driveway didn't seam quite as scary with my eldest brother Austin by my side. He smiled down at me.

"Are you ready?" he inquired. I took a deep breath and nodded.

I affirmed, "I'm ready." Austin carried my three bags for me as we walked onto the porch of the huge house I was fixing to call home. I paused in front of the door and looked to Austin. He smiled reassuringly and motioned to the door with his head. I took another breath to calm my nerves and reached for the door knob. Before I could even grab it, however, the door swung open to reveal a smiling dark-haired pixie-like girl. She was the same height as me and had a smile so bright it could blind someone.

"Hi," she introduced in a bell-like voice. "I'm Alice. You must be Allie. I'm so happy to meet you!" She was super hyper and excited as she hugged me. As she did, I noticed two things: she had the same cold skin as Austin, and she was really strong. Although uncomfortable, Alice's happiness influenced my own as I smiled and hugged her back.

"Hi Alice," I muttered softly. She pulled away and squealed.

"Oh Austin she is so adorable! Why didn't you tell me she was this cute?!" Austin rolled his eyes.

He replied, "One, I didn't find it important to tell you, and two, I would have thought you'd be able to see it." Alice rolled her eyes.

"She was hanging around with all those mutts all the time I wasn't able to see her." She looked back to me. "But now that she's here I'll be able to see her." I didn't really understand what Alice meant by see me, but I liked her so far. Alice escorted us inside the amazingly clean and open home. My eyes widened at the beauty of it.

"Wow," I muttered. "This is amazing!" Alice smiled back at me.

"You really think so! I'm so glad. We try to make everything as homely as possible." I nodded and looked around. Everything seamed so bright. However, everything also seamed empty in regards to people. Austin told me that in addition to him, seven others lived here. All I'd seen so far was Alice. I turned to face her.

"Where is everyone?" I inquired. Alice smiled.

"Would you like to meet them?" she asked.

I nodded and replied, "Yeah, I think I'd like to." Almost instantly, more people appeared in the room near the stairs. My eyes widened. A blonde gorgeous man who looked to be in his early twenties smiled warmly at me and took a step closer.

"I'm sorry we weren't here when you first came in," he apologized with the same bell-like voice Alice had. "We just didn't want to overwhelm you. I'm Carlisle." He extended his hand to me in a most gentleman like manner. I smiled back at him and shook his hand.

"Allie," I replied. A woman who appeared to be the same age as Carlisle stepped forward. She had the same wide smile that Alice and Carlisle had.

She introduced herself, "Hello Allie, I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife. Welcome to my home." I smiled back at Esme and offered her my hand, but she surprised me by giving me a hug. I was starting to realize that everyone in this family was abnormally cold.

After Esme, they all went down the line and introduced themselves.

The biggest of them all said his name was Emmet. The breathtakingly beautiful blonde girl next to him introduced herself as Rosalie. Next to her was another male blonde who simply said his name was Jasper. After him was a little brunette who mumbled out her name as Bella, and there was a red head next to her who said his name was Edward.

Over all, they all seamed a little too nice to be real. It sort of made me uncomfortable. Austin put a hand on my shoulder from behind me. I looked back at him.

"Let's get you up to your room and get you settled okay?" I nodded back at him. Alice suddenly started jumping up and down happily.

"Oh come with me, I'll show you to your room. It's Edward's old room since he moved into his and Bella's little cottage with their daughter Renesmee. You can meet her later. She's with Jacob right now." I narrowed my eyes.

"Jacob Black?" Alice smiled back at me and nodded.

Since Edward and Bella were both vampires, I assumed that Renesmee was one as well which made me wonder why she would be hanging out with Jacob if they supposedly hated what the other was. I looked to Austin and he gave me a look saying he'd explain later. I took his word for it.

Thinking about Jacob though made me realize how much I missed my friends. I missed Hannah, Kim, Emily, Embry, Seth, and really missed Paul. As Alice led me and Austin upstairs, I looked back at him.

I asked, "Can I go see my friends later?" Austin locked eyes with me.

"Who exactly do you want to see?" I hadn't noticed at first, but when I asked that, everyone stopped moving and speaking.

I hesitantly replied, "Hannah, Kim, Emily, and maybe Paul if it's okay with you." Austin took a deep breath and closed his eyes like he used to do when he was thinking about something really hard. After a moment, he reopened his eyes.

"I guess, but I'm coming with you." Although I knew that would probably make everyone else uncomfortable, I had no problem with Austin coming with me. I just really wanted to see everyone.

"Okay," I replied with a smile. "I'm good with that." We finished the journey to my new room, sat my things down, and Austin and I left.

Austin drove me in his car all the way to Sam's house. I could tell that there were a lot of people there because of the cars out front. I started to get out, but Austin didn't move. I narrowed my eyes at him confused. He smiled reassuringly at me.

He explained, "I'm going to stay in the car. I can hear you fine once your inside. I'm not going to come in unless I see a need to. I'll wait until you're ready to go." I smiled back at him and nodded.

I jumped out of the car and slowly walked up to the door. Although I now knew that almost everyone I knew had a super sense of hearing, I was unfortunate enough to have no idea what was going on inside. When I reached the door, I hesitated. I was close enough now to hear people talking and laughing. They must not have noticed me yet.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before knocking three times loudly. The sound I could hear from inside stopped. I was sort of nervous about seeing everyone since I hadn't in over a month, and about the fact I knew the secret they'd been keeping from me for so long.

After a few moments, the door opened, revealing Paul. His eyes were stern and angry, but when he saw it was me, they softened. I think he was almost in disbelief.

"Allie," he whispered. "You're here." I smiled and nodded.

"I'm here," I repeated. He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"And you stink." I raised my eyebrows and let out a gasp of air.

I nodded and muttered, "Gee, thanks." He shook his head as though he realized what he said.

"No Allie, that's not what I meant," he tried to reason. "What I meant was…" I chuckled which made him stop talking.

I smiled up at him and said, "It's okay, I know what you meant." Paul stood there watching me for a moment longer before realizing we were still in the door way. He took a step backward and let me walk inside. I glanced around.

Everyone except Embry, Aaron, Collin, Brady, and Jared were here, including the girls. I smiled and did a short wave at everyone.

"Hey everyone," I mumbled out. Before I could do anything else, Hannah had embraced me in a hug.

"I've missed you," she muttered into my shoulder. "I was going to get to come see you the other day, but Aaron called back later and said you weren't there but wouldn't say where you were. I've been worried sick about you." My smile dimmed slightly as I hugged her back.

"I'm sorry," I replied. "I've just been a bit… distracted." Hannah pulled back and narrowed her eyes.

"What with?" I tried to wave it off.

I replied, "It's nothing. What's something, though, is how much I've been missing all of you guys. What's been going on?" Seth decided to chime in with a snappy remark.

"Well, Paul and Embry have been moping around since Aaron hid you away from the world, and when Aaron saw them moping, he would growl at them meanly which they would cower from –inflating his ego if you ask me. And everyone else has been begrudgingly moving on with life almost as if you'd died which, for the past week and a half, we all thought you had because Aaron stopped coming around and was acting all sad when we'd call, and since he refused to phase we couldn't…"

After Seth said the word phase, Paul, who was standing over him, hit him in the back of the head shutting him up. I chuckled. Everyone seamed to be looking to me to see my reaction, even Hannah. I bet that everyone knew the secret and thought I didn't. It sort of depressed me. I wonder why they wouldn't tell me about it before.

I sighed. "I'm kind of sorry to hear all that. I guess it was my fault though. I sort of… overreacted." Sam narrowed his eyes as he looked at me.

"Overreacted to what?" he inquired. I sighed. I guess they deserved to know that I knew.

In one fail swoop, I exclaimed, "I know your secret." If there was such a silence that was silenter than a dead silence, that was what befell the room when I said those four words.

"What secret?" Paul asked slowly. Now everyone eyes really were trained on me. I opened my mouth to explain, but as I tried to, Aaron burst through the door.

"I showed her," he said simply. "She knows." I think Aaron was surprised to see me there sitting on the couch between Hannah and Emily. I smiled sadly back up at him. I hadn't actually seen nor spoken to Aaron in the past two weeks. He looked like a wreck.

Jacob grew angry. "What right did you have to do that? And how on earth did you know she was here?" Aaron glared at Jacob.

He replied, "One, she's my sister, so I had every right. And two, I had been coming over anyway. I wanted to talk with Sam." As the two boys got into a glaring war, I couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. Everyone looked back to me. I looked up at Aaron. "I'm sorry I hurt you, and caused all this." Hannah got up and let Paul sit down next to me.

He wrapped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me close.

He whispered, "What do you have to be sorry for? None of this is your fault." My eyes filled with tears.

"Yeah it is," I muttered. "I pushed and pushed Aaron for answers, and when he wouldn't give them, I pushed more until I knew he was to the breaking point. If I hadn't threatened to leave, Aaron wouldn't have told me anything." Paul was confused, I could tell.

"Why would you threaten to leave?" he whispered. I looked back at him. His eyes were so sad, it killed me.

I replied, "I don't know. I just did." Aaron chose that moment to speak up.

"You didn't just threaten to leave," he growled. "You did leave me to be with that monster." My eyes formed a harsh glare as I looked upon my brother.

"You said it was my choice, and I chose to live with Austin," I retorted. He returned my glare.

"Yeah," he snapped. "Austin and a bunch of leaches. When you left this morning, I didn't know if I would ever see you again." I looked to the side, somewhat embarrassed at Aaron's words. Even though, after meeting the Cullen's, I knew they were very nice and would never hurt me, the way Aaron spoke of them made me feel like I'd done something wrong.

All the talk of leaches got the attention of the others.

Paul questioned, "What do you mean you're living with leaches? You don't mean the Cullen's do you?" I could hear the distain in Paul's words.

Before I could reply, Aaron answered his question, "Yeah the Cullen's. Our brother Austin has been staying with those leaches."

My anger was boiling up. "Can you stop calling them that," I demanded. "Both Austin and the Cullen's are good people. I don't know why you hate them so much."

Everyone seamed shocked at my outburst. During the shock, I rose and moved to leave. Before I got too far, however, Paul grabbed my hand. I stopped and looked back at him.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I didn't mean to upset you. Please don't leave. I've missed you so much." The look in Paul's eyes melted my heart and forced me to stay. I smiled back at his saddened face.

I whispered, "I won't leave you. Not now, not ever." I hadn't noticed much before, but I found myself drawn to Paul. Even knowing what he was, I felt something deep within me yearn for him. In coming to know him, I'd fallen in love with Paul unbeknownst to me.

I searched his eyes for some clue as to how he felt for me, and, although I can not be sure, I thought I saw love within them. That thought swelled up happiness within my heart.

As we stayed there motionless, me standing him holding onto my arm as he sat on the couch, someone entered the room. I didn't pay attention to whom it was, however, I only paid attention to the fact that Paul was now standing and dangerously close to me. Within that close proximity, I could feel his hot breath on my face.

My heart raced as he cupped my face in his large hand and pulled it closer to his. When our lips were but a few millimeters away, I heard a growl, a crash, and then Paul was away from me and pinned to the other side of the room by Embry. I widened my eyes in shock and confusion.

"Embry," I inquired. "What are you doing? Let Paul go!" Embry either ignored me or didn't hear me for he was in such a rage. About what, I did not know.

Embry growled menacingly at Paul, "How dare you try to take what's mine. You know what she is to me!" Paul glared back at Embry, but I could see a small hint of fear in his eyes.

"Embry," came Sam's demanding voice. "Let Paul go. You're getting too angry. Get out of this house now." Something in Sam's voice changed as he told Embry to leave, and after a moment, Embry released Paul and stormed away. I was still in shock from the sudden outburst.

"What was that," I muttered more to myself than anyone else.

My rhetorical question was answered though, "You almost kissed Paul, and Embry's wolf took over. I'm surprised he didn't shift." I looked to Aaron whose face was void of emotion.

I looked to Sam as he spoke, "And Embry had every right to be angry. Paul you know that." I was so confused and had no idea what was going on, but I knew enough that they were talking like I belonged to Embry.

"Wait a minute," I exclaimed. "Embry had no right to be angry of anything that happens between Paul and me. That is none of his business."

Quill scoffed. "You really don't understand anything," he muttered. "Everything that concerns you is Embry's business. You're his imprint." I scrunched my eyes together at the strange word.

"What's an imprint?" I inquired. The room went silent. It seamed that no one was going to offer an explanation, and that made me angry. Slightly louder, I asked, "What is an imprint? Someone tell me." The source of my answer was unexpected.

"A wolf's imprint is sort of the person they were meant to be with. As soon as he looks at her, he'll have the instinct to protect her, love her, and be anything she needs. He will walk to the ends of the earth to ensure her safety and happiness, and he is fiercely protective of her. An imprint is a soul mate, the person they were meant to be with, and they will do anything to be with her." Austin casually leaned against the door frame with a small smile playing on his lips as though he'd lived there his entire life.

Upon seeing him, the entire room went tense.

"What are you doing here," Aaron growled. Austin smirked playfully.

He replied, "I brought Allie here. She wanted to see her friends. Do you really think I would let her make the journey alone? If so, you are sadly mistaken." I wasn't sure of the whole imprint thing at the moment, but I was sure that a fight would break out if Austin didn't leave as soon as possible. That meant me leaving as well.

"Austin," I muttered drawing attention to myself. "I think we should leave."

Paul was up from his position on the floor and by my side in an instant. "Stay. I will take you back later. There's things we need to discuss. Not only you and I, but you and Embry."

I sighed. I knew conversations were to be had, but I didn't want to have them at the moment.

"Not right now," I replied. "I need time to think and rest. We can talk another day." Paul seamed so sad, but he simply nodded at my request. Quickly, he placed a short hot kiss on my forehead. My eyes widened in shock. Unable to react, Paul gently led me to the door where Austin was waiting. I only slightly noticed the shift of hot to cold as I was led out of the house and to the car by Austin.

Everyone stood on the porch watching as Austin started the car and drove off. Once we were a safe distance away from the house, Austin spoke.

"That went better than expected," he said lightheartedly. "Don't you agree?" I raised my eyebrows as I looked over at my eldest brother.

"If that was better than expected," I replied. "I would hate to know what you expected." Austin laughed as he continued driving.

"If you set low expectations, you're bound to be pleased with the outcome." I rolled my eyes at his logic and turned to look at the passing trees. I suppose the day could have gone worse. Someone could have gotten hurt or even killed. I shuddered at the thought. I hope no one dies on my watch. That would be terrible.

I shook the idea away and thought back to what Austin had said about an imprint and it being a wolf's soul mate. If I was Embry's soul mate, why did I have more feelings for Paul than Embry? It didn't make sense. I'd have to talk to Austin about it later.

Sighing, I leaned back against my seat and let my exhaustion overtake me as I drifted into a blissful sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

When I next awoke, I found myself in my room at the Cullen's while being shaken away from my slumber by Seth. I groaned and glared up at my cousin.

"First off why are you here," I mumbled while pulling my blankets up over my head. "And second why are you waking me up?" He chuckled and sat down next to me.

"I visit the Cullen's every now and then," he replied. "Since you're staying here, that just gives me more reason to do so. Also, there's a bonfire tonight, and you are going to it." I looked out at him from under my blankets.

I asked, "Why am I going to a bonfire?"

Rather than Seth reply, Austin chose that moment to enter, "Because I think it would be best for you. Renesmee is going with Jacob, and all of the pack is going to be there. You all didn't end things on the best of terms earlier, so I think this would be a good way to make everything up." Groaning, I closed my eyes.

"Alright," I muttered. "When do we leave?"

"An hour," Seth replied. I suddenly sat up as fast as I could causing me to get dizzy.

Once I had my bearings again, I questioned, "And why did you wait until just now to wake me up? It takes me at least an hour just to wake up." Both of my loving family members chuckled at my frustration. Seth stood up and ruffled my hair.

"Then I suggest you get moving." I glared at his back as he and Austin left my room, shutting the door firmly as they did so. I jumped out of bed and ran over to my closet. When I reached it, I had to pause in surprise. There were TONS of clothes all organized by color and season, and most of the pieces were far too expensive for me ever to afford myself.

"I don't remember there being this much here earlier," I mumbled thinking back to when I first unpacked my clothes upon arriving. Deciding that particular mystery could wait, I began exploring the large amounts of clothing before me.

Bonfire attire… well, La Push normally is cold, but I didn't want to look as though I was freezing. After looking through the large closet and overlooking the clothes a little to fancy for me, I finally decided to wear black skinny jeans with tights under them (to keep warm), a black t-shirt that says 'To save time, let's just assume I'm always right' in white letters, and a black jacket over the shirt.

Once dressed, I looked over at the clock sitting next to my bed. I only had ten minutes until we were supposed to leave. I quickly ran a brush through my blondish hair and let it hang down naturally. I applied eye liner and a little silver eye shadow. Once I was done, I skipped down the stairs and stopped in front of Seth and Austin who were seated on the couch.

"Ready!" I announced. Seth raised an eyebrow at my attire.

"Really? All black?" I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms.

"Well, excuse me for dressing warm. Black keeps the heat in better than any other color. Besides," I smiled evilly at Seth. "Black is good for blending in at night." Seth raised an eyebrow at me again while Austin just shook his head.

"And what about your attire?" I added. "You two are going to freeze." Seth was wearing cut off pants and a t-shirt while Austin was wearing jeans and a sleeveless shirt. They both chuckled.

Seth replied, "Don't worry, it's one of the perks of being a wolf. If you've noticed, we have abnormal body heat that keeps us warm."

I looked to Austin who shrugged in response, "First off, I'll be staying in the car the whole time and second, vampires don't get cold." I rolled my eyes at the two of them as they chuckled lightly once more.

"I'm ready," came a small voice from the door way. I turned and my eyes widened substantially at the person before me.

It was just a young girl that looked to be about seven, but she was absolutely beautiful. She had curly bronze hair, pail skin, and the biggest brown eyes I'd ever seen. She smiled happily at me.

"Hello, I'm Renesmee, but call me Nessie. What's your name?" I smiled back at the small girl and held out my hand which she gladly took.

"Hello Nessie, I'm Allie, Austin's sister."

Said brother decided to speak up then, "Allie this is Bella and Edward's daughter. I mentioned her to you earlier, but you didn't get to meet her." I remembered.

"It's all cool meeting new people and such," Seth interjected. "But we need to get going if we're going to get there before the stories start." I wanted to ask what stories, but Austin agreed and almost instantly we were outside next to Austin's car.

At that moment, another car drove up in which I saw Jacob driving. He gave me a wave as he exited the car.

"Hey Allie," he called out. I smiled back at him.

"Hey Jake," I greeted. "Are we riding with you or are we taking a different car?" Austin put a hand on my shoulder capturing my attention.

He answered, "You and I are taking my car. Jake, Seth and Renesmee are riding in Jacob's car." I nodded once.

After bidding a temporary farewell to Seth and Jacob, Austin and I got into his car and drove off. A few moments of silence passed as we drove before I decided to say something.

"So," I began drawing out the word. "How's it going to work with you being in an area with lots of werewolves? Won't that cause problems?" Austin smiled gently.

He replied, "It might cause some tension, but I already called and talked with Sam. He agrees that you going to the bonfire tonight is a good idea, and he understands that I want to be near since you live with me now. Therefore, Sam made an alpha order that I am not to be attacked or harmed tonight." I nodded once in understanding.

"That makes since," I muttered trying to think of anything else I might need to know before we arrived at the beach. Suddenly, a thought struck me. "I was meaning to ask you this earlier, but why, if I'm Embry's imprint, do I feel such a connection to Paul?" Austin sighed in frustration.

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know a whole lot about the entire process, but I'm sure that someone there tonight will know." He smiled over at me reassuringly. "Just listen to what your heart tells you is right, and you'll never go wrong. Trust me on that." I sighed as well and looked back out the window. Trusting in my heart was probably something I shouldn't do. It had only ever gotten me heartache and suffering.

The rest of the trip was in silence until finally Austin declared, "We're here."

Everyone at the bonfire acted as though the episode had earlier that morning didn't exist for which I was grateful. I don't know how I would have reacted to everyone crowding me with questions. Most of my time was spent helping the girls set up the food, and I mean it when I say there was a lot of food. It made since though because there were a lot of people, and most of the people were werewolves who, if my memory serves me well, tend to eat quite a lot. I looked around at everyone that was here. There were twenty six people here total, and eleven of them were wolves. I shook my head and smiled at the girls.

"So when do we eat?" I asked stretching my arms as far out as I could. Kim chuckled.

She replied, "Well, we can get something right now. We girls get to eat before the guys or else we won't get anything." I chuckled and nodded. The girls made me comfortable, and so did Paul, but I was still worried to be near Aaron as I saw him watching me for the billionth time that evening. I didn't want him to hate me for not living with him anymore. Setting aside my fears, I settled myself between Paul and Embry who were both having a silent argument over who could have my attention.

"Allie," Embry said gaining my attention. "Do you think we could talk a little later? Just the two of us?" I bit my bottom lip slightly. I knew a talk was coming, but I didn't know how to handle it. I guess I'll never know if I never speak though.

"Sure," I caved. "I heard something about stories, so we can talk after them."

Paul chuckled. "I think you'll like the stories. They tell of our tribe's history." I raised my eyebrows in curiosity.

"Really?" I questioned.

"Really," Embry responding causing me to look back to him once more. "They tell why we're wolves and everything else that goes along with it pretty much." I smiled, excitement growing within me.

"That sounds awesome," I exclaimed sitting closer to the edge of my seat. Across the fire, I could see Aaron sitting next to Seth still watching me. Seeing him there looking so sad hurt my heart. I had to do something.

Mustering up the courage, I rose from my seat, told Paul and Embry I would return shortly, and walked over to where my brother was seated. He watched me cautiously as I walked around the fire and stopped just a few paces before him.

"May I sit with you?" I whispered so quietly I doubted he even heard me. When he nodded and moved closer to Seth, however, I knew he had. Slowly, I sat myself down on the edge of the log seat next to Aaron close enough to feel the heat radiating from him that had comforted me so much in the past.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he questioned quietly. I nodded.

"Yes, I am. I'm excited to hear the stories." Aaron smiled softly.

"I'm glad," he mumbled. "Maybe you'll understand a little better afterwards." I knew he hoped that with all his heart. It wasn't that I didn't trust Aaron or any of the other guys, it is just that finding out your brother can change into a giant wolf can be a little overwhelming for anyone.

"I remember parts of the stories from when I was younger," I muttered, trying to keep the conversation going. "I wonder if I'll remember them more as they're spoken again." Aaron shrugged.

"Maybe," he voiced. "Either way, you'll hear them now with fresher ears." I nodded once in agreement. I would have liked to try and talk more with Aaron, but everyone went silent as Billy positioned himself at the front of the fire.

I leaned in to hear him more clearly as he began to speak, "The Quileute's have always been a small people from the beginning. And we are a small people still, but we have never disappeared. We have magic in our blood. It wasn't always the power to shape-shift, but before that we were spirit warriors."

I don't know why I didn't remember that part of the story from when I was younger. If I had, I probably would have been able to figure everything out sooner than I did. I shook the thoughts out of my head and listened as Billy continued.

"The tribe settled in this harbor and became ship builders and fishermen, very skilled at their craft. But our tribe was small, and the harbor was rich with fish. Of course, others coveted our land, and we were too small to hold it." He heaved a great breath, the pause ringing tensely in the air. There was a magic in the air. It seemed to tingle, brushing against my skin before spiraling up the column of flames in the middle of us all. "A larger tribe moved against us and we took our ships to escape.

"Kaheleha was not the first spirit warrior, but we do not remember the stories that came from before. We do not remember who the first to discover this power was, or how it had been used before this crisis. Kaheleha was the first Great Spirit Chief in our history. In this emergency, Kaheleha used the magic to defend our land. He and all his warriors left the ship, but they did not leave in their bodies, they left with their spirits. They could not physically touch the enemy tribe, but they had others ways. The stories tell us that they could blow fierce winds. The legends say that these spirit warriors could scream so loudly in the wind that it terrified their enemies. The stories say that the animals could see and understand them as well; the animals themselves would do their bidding.

"Kaheleha took his spirit army and wreaked havoc on the intruders to their land. The invading tribe had packs of big, thick-furred dogs that they used to pull their sleds in the frozen north." My eyes skittered to each of the faces all listening intently to Billy. Leah was sitting on the ground, her eyes staring intensely toward the flames. Kim was smiling serenely from her position beside Jared. I focused once more on Billy, trying to not be rude. "They used the screaming wind to aid the dogs in confusing the men. The dogs and the bats won the day. The survivors scattered, call our harbor a cursed place. The dogs ran wild when the spirit warriors released them. The Quileute's returned to their bodies and their wives, who were still waiting on the boats, victorious.

"The other tribes, the Hohs and Makahs, made treaties with our people. They wanted nothing to do with our magic. We lived in peace with them. When any enemies would dare go against us, the spirit warriors would drive them away. Generations passed. Then came our last Great Spirit Chief, Taha Aki. He was known for being a man of peace. The people lived well in that time and were content in his care, but there was one man, Utlapa, who was not content."

The entire atmosphere seemed to grow heavy in an instant, pushing the flames down in intensity. I looked up toward the top of the blaze as I heard a low growl come from around the fire. I remember this part of the story, and it made anger run through my body. I may not remember much, but I remember that Utlapa was a very evil man.

"Utlapa was one of Chief Taha Aki's strongest spirit warriors—a very powerful man, but a grasping man, too. He thought the people should use their magic to expand their lands, to enslave the Hohs and the Makahs to build an empire. When the warriors were their spirit selves, they knew each other's thoughts. Taha Aki saw what Utlapa dreamed, and was very angry with him. Utlapa was commanded to leave the people and to never use his spirit self again. He had no choice but to leave. The furious outcast hid in the forest nearby, waiting for his chance to take revenge.

"Even in times of peace, the Spirit Chief was vigilant in protecting his people. Often he would go to a sacred, secret place in the mountains nearby. It was along the coast, making sure that no threat dared to approach.

"One day when Taha Aki left to perform his duty, Utlapa followed him. At first, Utlapa simply planned to kill the chief, but this plan had drawbacks." Of course, it did. You can't expect to be able to kill the chief with no problems. "Sure the spirit warriors would seek to destroy him, and they could follow faster than he could escape. As he hid in the rocks and watched the chief prepare to leave his body, another plan occurred to him.

"Taha Aki left his body in the secret place and flew with the winds to keep watch over his people. Taha Aki knew the moment Utlapa had joined him in the spirit world, and he knew his murderous plan. He raced back to his secret place, but the winds weren't fast enough to save him. When he returned, his body was already gone. Utlapa's body lay abandoned, but Utlapa had not left Taha Aki with an escape—he had cut his own body's throat with Taha Aki's hands. Taha Aki followed his body down the mountain. He screamed at the evil man, but Utlapa ignored him as if he were the wind.

"Taha Aki watched with despair as Utlapa took his place as chief of the Quileute's. For a few weeks, Utlapa did nothing but make sure everyone believe him to be Taha Aki. Then the changes began—Utlapa's first order was to keep any warrior from entering the spirit realm. He claimed to have had a vision of danger, but really he was afraid." Of course he was afraid! He should've been very afraid. I clenched my hands into fists at the traitor. "Taha Aki was helpless to stop the horrible audacities that Utlapa was committing. He was helpless to stop him from taking a second and third wife. He watched as the evil man refused to work alongside of the warriors. Taha Aki made an attempt to kill his own body, ordering a wolf from the mountains to attack the false chief. When a young warrior was killed protecting the false chief, Taha Aki felt immense grief. He ordered the wolf away to the mountains once more.

"Every story tells us that it was not easy to be a spirit warrior. It was frightening to be free of one's body. That is why our people only called upon these powers in times of great need. It was uncomfortable and horrifying to be free of one's body and Taha Aki was away from his body for so long that he was in agony. He felt doom—trapped between this world and the next. The great wolf followed Taha Aki's spirit as he painfully made his way through the woods. The wolf was very large and beautiful. Taha Aki was suddenly very jealous of the dumb animal. It had a body. It had a life.

"Taha Aki entered the wolf's body with relief and immense gratitude. It was not human body, but it was better than the spirit world. Together, the man and the wolf returned to the village on the harbor. The people ran in fear, shouting for the warriors to come and save them. The warriors ran to meet the wolf with their spears. Utlapa," the coward, "remained safely hidden."

"Taha Aki did not attack his warriors. He retreated slowly from them, speaking calmly with his eyes and trying to yelp the songs of the people. The warriors began to realize that this wolf was no ordinary animal, that there was a spirit influencing it. One older warrior, Yut, decided to disobey the false chief's order and attempted to communicate with the animal. Upon entering the spirit world, the aged warrior learned of the false chief and welcomed his true leader home. Before he could return to his body, Utlapa saw the lifeless form and screamed 'traitor'. Yut jumped back into his body but was too late. Utlapa had a knife to his throat and his hand over his mouth. The aged warrior was weak with time and could not fight back. Utlapa silenced him forever. Taha Aki watched in horror as Yut's spirit slipped to the finals lands that were barred to Taha Aki for all eternity. He felt such rage, much more powerful than any emotion he had ever felt before. He entered the wolf again, meaning to rip Utlapa's throat out. But as he joined with the wolf, the greatest magic happened.

"Taha Aki's anger was the anger of a man. The love he had for his people and the great hatred he held for their oppressor was too vast for the wolf's body. The emotions were much too human. The wolf shuddered and—before the warriors and the terrified Utlapa—transformed into a man."

I sucked in a breath. This really was the origins of the native people. Of my people.

"This body was far more magnificent. It was the flesh interpretation of Taha Aki's spirit. The warriors recognized him at once, though, for they had flown with Taha Aki's spirit. Utlapa, the great fool, tried to run, but Taha Aki had the strength of the wolf in his new body. He caught the thief and crushed the fist from him before he could jump out of the stolen body.

"The people rejoiced when they understood what had occurred. Taha Aki quickly set everything right, working again with his people and giving the young wives back to their families. The only change kept in place was the end of the spirit travels. He knew that it was too dangerous now that the idea of stealing a life was there. The spirit warriors were no more. From that point on, Taha Aki was more than either wolf or man. They called Taha Aki the Great Wolf or Taha Aki the Spirit Man. He led his tribe for many, many years, for he did not age. When danger threatened, he would resume his wolf-self to fight or frighten the enemy. The people lived in peace. Taha Aki fathered many sons and some of these found that, after they reached the age of manhood, they, too, could transform into wolves. The wolves, of course, were all very different. The forms reflected their spirits and the men they were inside.

"Some of the sons became warriors with Taha Aki, and they no longer aged. Others, who did not like the transformation, refused to join the pack of wolf-men. These began to age again, and the tribe discovered that the wolf-men could grow old like everyone else if they gave up their spirit wolves. Taha Aki had lived the span of three old men's lives. He had married a third wife after the deaths of the first two and found in her his true spirit wife. Though he had loved the others, this was something else. He decided to give up his spirit wolf so that he would die when she did. That is how the magic came to us, but it is not the real end of the story…"

That was most likely the imprinting process. There was a pause and everyone drew a breath. I, too, pulled in a deep gasp of air. A man with long silver hair began speaking next, continuing the story. I recognized him as Quill's father. He looked about at the faces with an underlying intensity.

"Taha Aki was an old man when trouble began in the north, with the Makahs. Several young women had disappeared, and they blamed it on the neighboring wolves, which they feared and mistrusted. The wolf-men could still read each other's thoughts while in their wolf forms. They knew that none of their number was to blame. Taha Aki tried to pacify the Makah chief, but there was too much fear. Taha Aki did not want to have a war on his hands. He was no longer a warrior to lead his people. He charged his eldest wolf-son, TahaWi, with finding the true culprit before the hostilities began.

"TahaWi led the five other wolves in his pack on a search through the mountains, looking for any evidence of the missing Makah women. They came across something they had never encountered before—a strange, sweet scent in the forest that burned their noses to the point of pain. They did not know what creature would leave such a scent, but they followed it nonetheless. They found traces of human scent and human blood along the trail. They were sure this was the enemy they had been searching for. The journey took them so far north that Taha Wi sent half the pack, the youngest, back to the harbor to report to Taha Aki." I heard a snort somewhere in the crowd, but it went ignored. "TahaWi and his brothers did not return. The younger brothers searched for their elders, but found only silence. Taha Aki mourned for his sons. He wished to avenge their deaths, but he was old. He went to the Makah Chief in his mourning clothes and told him the news. The Makah chief believed his grief and tensions ended between the tribes

"A year later, two more Makah maidens disappeared from their homes on the same night. The Makahs called on the Quileute wolves at once, who found the same sweet stink all through the Makah village. The wolves went on their hunt again.

"They had killed a creature they called, The Cold One, the Blood Drinker, and they lived in fear that it was not alone. They only had one wolf protector left, young Yaha Uta. They did not have long to wait. The creature had a mate, another blood drinker, who came to the Quileute seeking revenge.

"The legends say that the Cold Woman was the most beautiful thing human eyes had ever seen. She looked like a goddess of the dawn when she entered the village that morning; the sun was shining for once and it glistened off her white skin and lit the golden hair that flowed down to her knees. There were none of Taha Aki's blood among the witnesses save for a little boy who clung to his mother and screamed that the smell was hurting his nose. An elder on his way to council heard the boy and realized what had come to the village. He yelled for the people to run, to get to safety. She killed him first.

"There were twenty witnesses to the Cold Woman. Two survived, only because she grew distracted by the blood, and paused to sate her thirst. The two survivors ran to the counsel house and informed Taha Aki of the atrocities. Upon hearing the news, Yaha Uta transformed into his spirit wolf and went to destroy the Cold Woman alone. Taha Aki, his third wolf and the elders followed after him.

"They at first did not find her, only the damage she had caused. A few were drained of blood, some were bodies were broke, strewn across the road. Then they heard horrid screams and hurried to the harbor. A handful had run to the boats for refuge. She swam after them like a shark with incredible strength. She caught those trying to escape and broke their bodies as well." My mouth opened in shock. Dad had never told the story quite as horrific as this. "She saw the great wolf on the shore and forgot the fleeing swimmers. She swam so fast that she was a blur and came, dripping and beautiful to stand before the young wolf. She pointed and asked another question in the foreign language. Yaha Uta waited.

"The fight was close. She was not the warrior her mate was, but Yaha Uta was alone—there was no one to distract her from him. When Yaha Uta lost, Taha Aki screamed his defiance. He limped forward and shifted into an ancient, white-muzzled wolf. The wolf was old, but this was Taha Aki the Spirit Man and his rage made him strong. The fight began once more.

"Taha Aki's wife had seen her son die before her. Now her husband fought, and she had no hope that he would win. She'd heard every word of the witnesses to the slaughter had told the council. She'd heard the story of Yaha Uta's first victory, and knew that his brother's diversion to save him." I saw the fire kick up embers that floated into the sky. "The third wife grabbed a knife from the belt of one of the sons that stood beside her. They were all young sons, not yet men and she knew they would die when their father failed. She ran toward the Cold Woman with the dagger raised high. The Cold Woman smiled, barely distracted from her fight with the old wolf. She had no fear of the weak human woman or the knife that would not scratch her skin. She was about to deliver the death blow to Taha Aki. Then the third wife did something the Cold Woman did not expect. She fell to her knees at the blood drinker's feet and plunged the knife into her own heart." I felt tears prickling my eyes as I stared at the Elder. He was now keeping his gaze on the dancing fire. "Blood spurted from the third wife's fingers and splashed against the Cold Woman. The blood drinker could not resist the lure of fresh blood and instinctively she turned to the dying woman, for one second entirely consumed by thirst.

"Taha Aki's teeth closed around her neck. Two of the sons felt such rage at the death of their mother that they, too, transformed into their spirit wolves. With their father, they finished the creature off. Taha Aki protected his wife's body for a time before disappearing into the woods, never to be heard from again." I knew that there were tears on my cheeks, but I did not dare draw attention to myself by wiping them away. "The skills of fighting the Cold Ones were passed from generation to generation, from father to son. There were never more than three wolves at a time. It was enough to guard the tribe. We know that your grandfather's made a treaty with a large coven of these Cold Ones years back. Their eyes gave proof of their claim of being different from others of their kind. Outnumbered, Ephraim Black agreed. Their numbers have caused the pack to grow into a size that was never seen since Taha Aki's time. And so, the sons of our tribe again carry the burden and share the sacrifice their fathers endured before them." Old Quill sat down, and all was silent once again. I silently wiped my eyes dry. A warm hand was placed on my own. I looked over to see Aaron smiling down at me. I smiled back up at him on instinct.

"So, Allie," he started softly. "What did you think of the stories?" I gave him a half smile.

"Well, I've never heard the stories quite like that, but it did make me realize something."

Aaron cautiously dared to ask, "And what is that?" I smiled up at him once more and hugged his neck.

"That I was stupid for being fearful of you. I'm so sorry. I know I hurt you, and you have every right to hate me for the rest of my life, but I just ask that you give me a second chance. I love you so much Aaron."

Slightly in shock from my outburst, Aaron wrapped his arms around me and held me to him tightly.

He whispered in my ear, "I could never hate you. I love you so much Allie." I smiled wider into his shoulder and continued to stay in his embrace for a little while longer. After a moment, he pulled away. "So," he began. "Don't you need to go talk with Embry? He's waiting over there." I looked to where he was pointing and saw Embry waiting for me toward the edge of the group. I shut my eyes for a brief moment while nodding.

"Yes," I replied solemnly. "We need to talk."

I left Aaron's side and joined Embry's. He gave me a small smile which I returned.

"Ready?" he inquired. I nodded.

"Ready."

He led me toward the woods where I paused at the edge. When I stopped moving, Embry looked back at me. Chuckling lightly, he grabbed a hold of my arm gently.

"Don't worry," he soothed as he pulled me into the woods. "I just want to get out of hearing distance from the others. Don't worry, I would never let anything happen to you."

Although I didn't know Embry too terribly well, I completely believed him when he said he'd keep me safe. Therefore, I willingly followed after him deeper into the woods.

When he thought we'd traveled enough, Embry stopped and turned to face me.

"So," I said slowly. "What do we need to talk about?" Embry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. As he did so, I was reminded just how much handsomer Embry was compared to all the other guys I knew. It took a lot of self control not to start drooling right then and there.

"Well," he began taking a seat on a nearby stump. "You know about the wolf thing." I nodded while taking a seat next to him. "And you know about the imprint thing."

I decided to go ahead and ask any questions I had then. "Can you explain it to me more? I'm sort of confused about the whole thing." Embry gave me a crooked smile and nodded.

"Sure. Like you heard from your brother, an imprint is a soul mate to the wolf. He will do anything for her, be anything she needs, and protect her. He's her protector, he can be her brother, her friend, and, as what ends up happening most often, her lover. It's up to her what he is." I tried to process everything.

"So the imprint basically forces the wolf to be with her?" Embry's eyes widened in shock.

"No," he exclaimed. "One can reject the imprint, though that hurts both involved, and like I said, if all the two were was friends, that's all they have to be. The imprint is more of a push in the right direction to finding your other half." That made sense.

"So, if we decided to, we could just be friends and both date and marry other people?" Embry swallowed hard after hearing my question and closed his eyes.

"If that's what you wanted, that's what I would do. Even if you…" He paused as he took a deep breath. "…wanted to be with Paul, that would be okay with me if it's what you wanted." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Would you really want that though?"

I could tell this was really stressing Embry out, but I needed to know.

"No," he replied. "If I could have what I wanted, I would take care of you, love you, marry you, raise the child you're carrying, and make you feel like the most important and special woman in the entire world because to me, you are."

He looked into my eyes with his deep black ones that confused and mesmerized me all at once. "Even only knowing you for the short while you've been here, I've come to love you and everything about you. I love your hair, your eyes, your smell, your laugh, the way you think of everyone else before yourself, your unselfishness, your curiosity, your playful attitude, your willingness to defend those important to you, your non-judgmentalness, your kindness, and your endurance. Your endurance impresses me and endears you to me as you're able to go through anything and still come out in one piece. There are so many challenges you've had to deal with these past few weeks, and I can't help but be impressed at how well you deal with them. Even when anyone can tell you're suffering, you pull through and get happy once more. I love everything I know about you and have yet to learn. I just want to be apart of your life and make you happy even if you don't love me the way I love you."

When Embry finished his little speech, I was beat red from all he'd said. It surprised me he felt that way, and it surprised me even more he would tell me all that. No one I'd ever known or dated had told me such things before, not even my parents. The thought touched me.

"Embry I…" he cut me off.

"I understand that this is a lot for you to take in, but please just give me a chance to be your friend. I promise I won't take it anywhere you don't want to, and I meant it when I said you are free to do whatever your heart desires so long as you're happy." I blushed once more and looked aside.

"Alright," I muttered. "Let's be friends." Embry's face beamed at those three simple words, and before I knew it, I was being embraced in a tight hug.

"Oh Allie thank you," he breathed out in relief. "I was terrified that you wouldn't want anything to do with me." I chuckled and hugged him back.

"I like you Embry," I replied. "I wouldn't want to have nothing to do with you." Especially after that confession of love he just made, but I wouldn't tell him that.

"I'm glad," he replied as he released me. Once he'd done so, we gathered ourselves together and walked back to the bonfire where everyone was waiting.

As we walked back, thoughts swarmed my head. I didn't love Embry the way he did me, at least not at that moment. Maybe in time I would as I got to know him better especially since we were supposedly soul mates. I still couldn't help but wonder why my feelings for Paul were so strong. Is it possible that I could have two soul mates?

The thought consumed me even after our return to the fire to the point I couldn't concentrate on anything. Embry, Aaron, and Paul all stayed by my side for the rest of the evening, but I don't remember much of what happened after Embry and I returned from the forest.

By the time the evening was over, I was no where close to having the answers I wanted, but at least some of my questions had answers. After promising to meet Aaron back at Sam's that weekend, I got into Austin's car and left with him. On the ride home, he was constantly asking me questions of how it went and this such that and the other, but I couldn't focus enough to give him any real answers. He seamed to notice this, and after getting no response to the question how Embry and I were doing, he stopped asking.

That question did leave me wondering, however. I wondered if I ever would love Embry the way he loved me, and if I did, would my feelings for Paul subside or would I be doomed to choose between two of my most important people?

Rather than try to think of any more answers that would no doubt fail to satisfy my thirst for understanding, I went strait to my room upon arriving back at the Cullen's house and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.


End file.
